ABRAHAM 
^LlNCOLN' 


DANIEL   E.  WHEELER 


LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


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l'«:^^.a«>"^    a^    ^    «^    mi     jat 


_        ._—  ^v^K^v^    ^    jl'^'M. 


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TRUE   STORIES   OF  GREAT   AMERICANS 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


,2^^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO   •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limitbd 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


\ 


From  the  Collection  of  Americana  of  Frederick  H.  Meserve,  New  York. 

Lincoln  and  his  Son  Tad. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


BY 

DANIEL   E.    WHEELER 


*'  From  prairie  cabin  up  to  Capitol, 
One  fair  ideal  led  our  chieftain  on. 
Forevermore  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 
With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king. 
He  built  the  rail  pile  as  he  built  the  State, 
Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke, 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man." 

—  Edwin  Markham. 


THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

1916 

Ali  rights  restrved 


Copyright,  1916, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  March,  1916. 


J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.8.A. 


// 


AA 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 


PACB 

A  Boy  of  the  Backwoods i 


CHAPTER   n 


•N 


"Pretty  Pinching  Times" ii 

CHAPTER   III 
A  Welcome  Stepmother i8 

CHAPTER  IV 
New  Experiences 27 

CHAPTER   V 
When  Abe  was  Twenty-one 33 

CHAPTER   VI 
At  Work  in  New  Salem 44 

CHAPTER   VII 


Lincoln  as  a  Soldier 


S3 

V 


» 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGE 

Storekeeper  and  Surveyor 6i 

CHAPTER  IX 
A  Heavy  Blow 7° 

CHAPTER  X 
Lincoln  as  Legislator 77 

CHAPTER  XI 
An  Interrupted  Courtship 86 

CHAPTER   XII 
Congressional  Experiences 96 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Riding  the  Circuit 105 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Great  Debates 115 

CHAPTER  XV 
Nominated  for  President 127 


CONTENTS  vii 


*  CHAPTER   XVI 

PACK 

♦•Vexed  with  Many  Cares"     .        .        .        .        c     139 


CHAPTER   XVn 
First  Year  of  the  War 149 

CHAPTER   XVni 
The  Emancipation  Proclamation   .        .        .        -159 

CHAPTER  XIX 
Dark  Days 169 

CHAPTER   XX 
A  Big  Battle  and  a  Little  Speech       .        .        .178 

CHAPTER   XXI 

Intimate  Glimpses     .        .        .        ,        .        .        .186 

CHAPTER   XXII 
Tension  and  Reelection  ...»,.     198 

CHAPTER   XXIII 
The  Curtain  Falls .    210 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Lincoln  and  his  Son  Tad         .        .        .        Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

Abraham  Lincoln's  Birthplace  ....  6 
The  Illinois  Cabin  of  the  Lincolns  ...  40 
The  Lincoln  Home  in  Springfield,  Illinois  .  102 
St.  Gaudens'  Statue  of  Lincoln  .  .  .  .162 
The  "Gettysburg  Address"  in  Lincoln's  Hand- 
writing          182,  183 

Mary  Todd  Lincoln 196 


IX 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

CHAPTER  I 

A  Boy  of  the  Backwoods 

Of  all  poor  boys  who  ever  became  great  men, 
Abraham  Lincoln  is  at  once  the  most  famihar  and 
inspiring  figure  in  American  history.  The  year 
1809  that  gave  him  to  the  world  saw  a  number  of 
famous  men  born,  including  Darwin,  Gladstone, 
Tennyson,  Mendelssohn,  Poe,  and  Ohver  Wendell 
Holmes;  but  none  of  them  was  so  lowly  born,  so 
handicapped  by  poverty  and  hardship,  as  was  our 
sixteenth  president. 

Lincoln's  life  begins  like  many  favorite  fairy  tales  : 
A  Httle  boy  and  his  sister  Hving  in  a  deep  wood,  in 
a  tiny  house  hardly  big  enough  for  the  father  and 
mother  and  their  two  children ;  the  father  chopping 
down  trees  to  make  room  for  a  farm ;  the  mother 
spinning  and  sewing  the  skins  of  animals  into 
clothes,  all  day  long  trying  to  make  ends  meet 
that  never  met. 

B  z 


2  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

February  12,  1809,  was  the  date  of  Abraham 
Lincohi's  birth,  and,  happily  enough,  he  came 
as  the  best  birthday  present  his  two-year-old  sister 
Sarah  could  have  had  —  a  playmate  in  the  lonely 
forest  clearing.  Midwinter  cold  and  lack  of  com- 
mon comforts  could  not  overshadow  the  joy  of  this 
hardy  pioneer  family  at  the  advent  of  a  son.  And 
the  few  women  neighbors  traveled  miles  in  the 
frost  to  hold  the  new  baby  and  bring  gifts  of  honey 
and  dried  fruits  to  the  mother.  Doubtless,  while 
they  chattered,  Thomas  Lincoln  mused  on  the  help 
his  boy  would  some  day  be  to  him,  while  Nancy 
Hanks  Lincoln,  the  happy  mother,  dreamed  of  the 
great  deeds  her  son  would  do  when  he  grew  to 
manhood.     And  her  dreams  were  to  come  true. 

Baby  Abraham  came  of  a  long  Hne  of  ancestors 
who  wandered  over  the  face  of  the  earth  in  search 
of  fortune.  His  first  ancestor  in  this  country, 
Samuel  Lincoln,  a  weaver,  left  home  in  Norfolk, 
England,  in  1637,  to  try  his  luck  among  the  Pil- 
grims of  Massachusetts.  Mordecai,  the  fourth  son 
of  the  weaver,  was  a  blacksmith,  grew  rich  and 
content  at  it,  Hving  and  dying  in  Scituate.  Two  of 
his  sons,  however,  named  Mordecai  and  Abraham, 
felt  the  call  to  roam,  and  forsook  Massachusetts 
for  Pennsylvania,  where  they  settled  among  the 
Quakers.     Next,  John,  a  son  of  this  second  Mor- 


A  BOY  OF  THE  BACKWOODS  3 

decai,  answered  the  summons  to  wander,  and  fared 
forth  to  Virginia,  where  he  thrived.  In  turn,  his 
son,  Abraham,  responded  to  the  lure  of  the  wilder- 
ness trails,  sold  out  his  acres,  and  led  his  family 
westward  over  the  way  blazed  by  Daniel  Boone 
into  the  primeval  heart  of  Kentucky. 

This  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  grandfather  of 
our  President.  It  was  about  1782  that  he,  with 
his  wife  and  five  children,  went  into  Kentucky, 
settling  in  a  stockade  somewhere  in  the  region 
of  Louisville.  Grandfather  Abraham  secured 
claims  to  some  seventeen  hundred  acres  of  land  and 
began  clearing  it.  One  fatal  day  in  1788,  while 
working  with  his  three  sons  in  these  fields,  a  red- 
skin stole  upon  them  and  shot  the  father. 

Mordecai,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  sped  to  the  home- 
stead after  a  gun ;  Josiah,  the  second  son,  ran  to 
the  fort  near  by  to  summon  aid;  the  youngest, 
Thomas,  then  a  boy  of  ten,  was  left  behind  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Indian,  who  was  preparing  either  to 
kill  or  carry  off  the  horrified  child.  But  Mordecai 
fired  at  the  foe,  killing  him. 

To  the  bereft  family  Kentucky  was  indeed  a 
''dark  and  bloody  ground."  None  of  the  boys  was 
old  enough  to  assume  the  burden  of  supporting  the 
family,  so  the  Lincolns  scattered.  Mordecai,  as 
the  eldest  son,  inherited  all  his  father's  land.     His 


4  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

brothers  and  sisters  shifted  as  they  might.  Little 
Thomas  suffered  most  because  of  his  father's 
untimely  death.  Child  though  he  was,  he  had  to 
earn  his  own  Kving  in  that  wild,  unsettled  country. 
He  became  what  was  known  as  "a  wandering 
laboring-boy,"  hiring  himself  to  any  farmer  that 
would  have  him.  Of  course  he  had  no  chance  of 
education,  and  he  grew  to  manhood  without 
knowing  how  to  write  his  name.  But  he  was 
physically  strong  and  had  a  cheerful  disposition 
that  made  him  friends.  His  sound  sense  and  quiet 
manner  were  noted,  and  he  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  good  spinner  of  a  yarn. 

By  the  time  Thomas  Lincoln  was  twenty-five, 
he  had  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  joiner, 
and  had  managed  to  secure  a  bit  of  land  on  Nolin 
Creek,  then  in  Hardin,  but  afterwards  La  Rue 
County,  Kentucky.  This  foothold  was  about 
fourteen  miles  from  Elizabethtown,  where  he  was 
living,  and  where  he  worked  for  a  distant  cousin 
named  Joseph  Hanks,  who  owned  a  carpenter  shop. 
What  was  more  attractive,  Joseph  Hanks  had  a 
lovely,  gray-eyed  sister  called  Nancy.  She  was 
a  tall,  slim  girl,  dark  and  deHcate-looking.  Usually, 
she  was  sweet-tempered  and  lively,  but  at  times 
she  had  moods  of  melancholy  that  gave  to  her  face 
a  sad  expression  which  people  were  quick  to  observe. 


A  BOY  OF  THE  BACKWOODS  5 

Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  fell  in  love, 
and  on  June  12,  1806,  when  he  was  twenty-eight 
and  she  twenty-three,  they  were  married.  The 
event  was  one  for  boisterous  merrymaking. 
Guests  were  invited  from  every  quarter,  there  was 
plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  including  the  roasting  of  a 
whole  sheep,  and  the  company  joked  and  danced 
till  daylight. 

For  about  a  year  thereafter  Thomas  and  Nancy 
Lincoln  lived  in  Elizabeth  town,  where  their 
daughter,  Sarah,  was  born  on  the  loth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1807.  Following  this  event  Thomas  Lin- 
coln decided  to  remove  to  his  place  on  Nolin  Creek. 
As  a  carpenter,  things  had  been  discouragingly  slow 
with  him,  and  so  he  thought  it  a  wise  plan  to  com- 
bine farming  with  his  poor  trade.  Though  he 
possessed  a  fine  set  of  tools,  and  was  skillful  in  their 
use,  there  was  little  call  upon  his  services. 

Out  to  the  woods  the  family  went  and  set  up 
housekeeping  in  the  humble  log  cabin  that  was  to 
become  famous  the  world  over  as  the  birthplace  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  only  a  one-room  house, 
but  it  was  quite  as  habitable  and  comfortable  as 
the  majority  of  homes  in  the  region.  The  Lincolns 
were  as  v/ell  off  as  the  general  run  of  pioneers. 

The  log  cabin  had  one  window,  a  door,  and  a  wide 
outside  chimney  made  of  poles  and  clay,  in  which  a 


6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

great  fire  might  roar.  There  was  no  glass  for  the 
window  (glass  was  a  luxury  then)  but  greased 
paper  served  instead.  Contrary  to  accepted  belief, 
the  Lincolns  had  a  feather-bed  and  home-woven 
coverlets;  there  were  pewter  spoons  and  dishes, 
iron  pots,  horn-handled  knives  and  forks,  a  loom 
and  spinning-wheel.  Primitive  as  these  things 
may  appear,  yet  they  provided  some  conveniences 
and  comforts  that  relieved  the  many  hardships  of 
the  wilds.  And  you  may  be  sure  that  Nancy 
Lincoln  made  it  as  cozy  as  possible,  for  she  was  held 
to  be  an  ideal  housewife. 

Until  Abraham  was  four  year§  old  they  remained 
on  Nolin  Creek,  life  adding  its  burdens  to  the  man 
and  wife,  the  tw^o  children  happy  and  content  in 
their  w^oodland  home.  During  long  winter  even- 
ings the  father  told  them  stories,  in  particular 
recounting  his  own  hairbreadth  escape  from  the 
Indians  in  his  boyhood.  Sometimes  Mrs.  Lincoln 
took  a  moment  from  her  housework  to  read  aloud 
from  the  Bible. 

The  Nolin  Creek  land  was  not  very  good  for 
farming,  Thomas  Lincoln  concluded,  so  in  the 
autumn  of  1 8 13  the  family  moved  to  a  new  locality, 
Knob  Creek,  about  fifteen  miles  to  the  northeast. 
Here  the  children  began  going  to  school.  It  was 
little  more  than  a  beginning,  however,  Sally  and 


A  BOY  OF  THE  BACKWOODS  7 

Abe  having  the  benefit  of  only  a  few  weeks'  in- 
struction in  these  ''ABC  schools."  Teachers 
were  few  in  the  wilderness,  and  came  and  went  as 
chance  prompted.  From  all  accounts,  the  teacher 
had  a  scanty  store  of  knowledge  at  his  disposal, 
and  his  equipment  seems  to  have  been  principally 
*'readin',  writin',  and  cipherin'  to  the  Rule  of 
Three,"  to  use  the  description  given  us  by  Lincoln. 

Under  two  of  these  wandering  teachers,  Zacha- 
riah  Rineyand  Caleb  Hazel,  the  boy  and  girl  learned 
their  alphabet  and  a  few  simple  words.  The  chief 
articles  of  instruction  in  the  log-cabin  schoolroom 
were  a  Webster's  Speller  and  a  switch.  Abe  was 
familiar  with  both. 

The  class  sat  around  on  rude  benches  and  three- 
legged  stools  in  a  bare  room,  without  blackboard 
or  slates.  Abe  proved  a  quick  pupil,  ahead  of  his 
classmates  most  of  the  time.  His  love  of  learning 
was  a  strange  thing  to  his  companions.  They 
preferred  games  and  pranks.  He  liked  fun,  too, 
and  joined  them  in  their  frolics,  but  he  also  had 
a  serious  side  to  his  character  that  puzzled  them. 
Even  at  this  age  —  he  was  about  seven  —  he  gath- 
ered spice  bushes  to  break  up  and  burn  at  night  so 
that  he  might  study  his  lessons  by  their  flare ! 

Nancy  Lincoln  encouraged  her  son  in  every  way 
she  could,  hearing  him  spell,  helping  him  to  read, 


8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  explaining  the  mysteries  of  addition.  The 
mother  of  Lincoln  was  herself  fond  of  books. 
Besides  assisting  her  little  boy  in  his  lessons,  Nancy 
taught  her  husband  how  to  write  his  name  and  how 
to  read  his  way  slowly  through  the  Bible.  Unlike 
his  boy,  Thomas  was  a  dull  scholar,  and  in  reality 
he  did  not  set  much  store  on  learning,  for  he  be- 
lieved that  in  the  wilderness  the  ax  was  more  useful 
than  the  pen. 

Carrying  out  his  practical  ideas,  the  father  put 
little  Abe  to  work  doing  the  easier  tasks  of  the  field 
just  as  soon  as  he  was  strong  enough  to  pull  weeds 
and  carry  tools.  Abe  helped  his  mother,  too, 
carrying  wood  and  water.  Often  he  ''gritted" 
corn  for  her  to  make  into  "dodgers."  Gritting 
corn  consisted  of  rubbing  the  ears  over  a  hole- 
punched  piece  of  tin  in  the  same  way  that  you  would 
grate  horse-radish.  Afterwards,  the  scraped  corn 
was  molded  into  cakes  and  baked.  They  were 
called  "dodgers." 

Dodgers  and  potatoes  were  staple  foods,  the 
potatoes  being  sometimes  peeled  and  eaten  raw  like 
apples;  and  in  the  bitter  cold  weather  potatoes 
hot  from  the  ashes  were  given  the  children  on  their 
way  to  school,  or  when  an  errand  took  them  a  dis- 
tance, to  serve  them  as  hand  warmers !  Wheat 
bread    was    a    rarity.    An    enthusiastic    hunter, 


A  BOY  OF  THE  BACKWOODS  9 

Thomas  Lincoln  often  supplied  the  family  with 
game.  Fish  abounded.  Poor  as  they  were,  we 
may  conclude  that  the  Lincolns  had  sufficient  food 
most  of  the  time.  At  any  rate,  Abraham  Lincoln 
when  he  had  grown  to  manhood  enjoyed  the 
memories  of  his  boyhood,  the  poverty  and  hardships 
leaving  no  bitterness  in  his  heart. 

There  are  two  recollections  of  the  period  worth 
recording.  One  comes  from  a  playmate  of  Abe's 
who  bore  the  name  of  Gollaher.  It  appears  the 
boys  had  been  hunting  partridges  near  Knob 
Creek.  In  "cooning"  across  a  fallen  tree-trunk 
Abe  tumbled  into  the  water  and  would  have 
drowned  had  not  Gollaher,  with  presence  of  mind, 
held  out  a  sycamore  branch  and  pulled  his  flounder- 
ing companion  ashore. 

The  other  recollection  is  Lincoln's  own.  Once, 
some  one  asked  him  if  he  remembered  anything  in 
connection  with  the  War  of  181 2.  Lincoln  recalled 
that  he  was  about  five  years  old  when,  returning 
from  a  fishing  trip  one  day,  he  met  a  soldier  on  the 
road.  Into  his  mind  flashed  one  of  the  precepts 
of  his  mother  —  to  be  kind  to  soldiers  because  they 
fought  and  were  willing  to  die  for  their  country. 
Acting  on  this  counsel,  the  little  fisherman  gave 
his  lone  fish  —  he  had  caught  but  one  —  to  the 
soldier. 


lO  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Dissatisfied  with  the  return  that  the  Knob  Creek 
land  offered  him,  and  his  title  to  it  being  doubtful, 
Thomas  Lincoln,  in  the  autumn  of  1816,  felt  again 
the  impulse  to  move  on  and  try  to  better  his  lot. 
Indiana,  recently  admitted  as  a  State,  attracted  his 
fresh  hopes.  Many  reputable  people  were  settling 
there.  From  strangers  and  kin  he  heard  glowing 
reports  of  the  country.  Plenty  of  rich  land  could 
be  had  almost  for  the  asking.  Furthermore,  no 
slaves  were  to  be  allowed  there.  Thomas  Lincoln 
liked  that  item  among  the  attractions.  He  de- 
cided to  see  for  himself  what  Indiana  was  like. 
Disposing  of  his  claim  to  the  Knob  Creek  property 
for  a  small  amount  of  ready  money  and  four  hun- 
dred gallons  of  corn  whisky,  he  built  himself  a  flat- 
boat,  or  raft,  and  set  out  to  find  his  latest  Eden. 
By  way  of  explanation  for  the  quantity  of  whisky, 
we  must  point  out  that  it  was  readily  used  those 
days  as  money  in  barter. 

When  he  had  swung  into  the  stream,  his  family 
turned  their  attention  to  preparations  for  leaving 
their  Kentucky  home  forever.  Sorrowful  though 
the  mother  might  have  been  at  the  uprooting,  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  children  looked  forward 
eagerly  to  the  change.  Indiana  meant  a  new 
world  to  them,  and  the  journey  there  was  a  glorious 
prospect. 


CHAPTER  II 

^'  Pretty  Pinching  Times  " 

Down  the  Rolling  Fork  to  the  Salt  River,  thence 
to  the  Ohio,  Thomas  Lincoln  floated  on  his  rude 
boat,  with  his  gallons  of  whisky  and  kit  of  tools. 
In  these  days  it  would  be  an  odd  sight  to  see  such 
a  drifting  cargo,  but  in  those  times  it  was  common 
enough  to  see  all  manner  of  strange  craft  on  the 
rivers.  Roads  were  few  and  bad,  and  so  the  flowing 
waters  were  the  chief  highways.  It  was  no  unusual 
sight  to  see  a  whole  family  living  on  a  raft-like 
contrivance,  performing  various  household  duties, 
even  to  feeding  the  chickens  and  pigs  as  these 
creatures  wandered  about  the  floating  home.  And 
these  water  famihes  tied  up  wherever  they  pleased, 
to  visit  or  trade. 

Misfortune  overtook  Thomas  Lincoln  at  one 
point  of  his  journey,  for  his  boat  capsized  and  his 
cargo  went  to  the  bottom.  By  dint  of  ingenuity 
he  recovered  his  property,  and  shortly  afterwards 
reached  what  he  thought  a  promising  bit  of  Indiana 
shore  called  Thompson's  Ferry.    Afoot,  and  keen 

II 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

on  the  lookout,  he  struck  into  the  woods,  and  after 
threading  their  mazes  for  some  fifteen  miles  he 
hit  on  a  site  that  pleased  him,  near  a  water  course 
named  Little  Pigeon  Creek.  It  was  really  a  dense 
wilderness,  but  in  his  eyes  was  most  desirable. 
Staking  his  claim  in  the  accustomed  fashion  by 
marking  the  trees  and  heaping  up  piles  of  brush- 
wood at  the  boundaries,  he  turned  his  face  home- 
ward. He  had  to  walk  all  the  way,  a  distance  of 
about  a  hundred  miles. 

When  he  arrived  at  Knob  Creek  two  horses  were 
borrowed,  the  few  belongings  packed,  and  off  they 
went,  Nancy  Lincoln  alone  steahng  a  wistful,  back- 
ward glance  at  the  forsaken  home. 

It  was  late  autumn,  the  trees  were  tattered  but 
brilHant,  and  the  air  was  snappy.  For  several  days 
they  traveled  like  gypsies,  camping  for  the  night 
and  building  fires,  a  thrilhng  experience  for  the  boy 
and  girl,  and  their  joys  ended  all  too  soon.  The  last 
ten  or  fifteen  miles  of  their  way  lay  through  a  track- 
less forest,  so  a  path  had  to  be  hewed  to  the  location 
of  the  new  home. 

Too  late  in  the  season  to  begin  building  a  regular 
cabin,  Thomas  Lincoln  contented  himself  with  a 
makeshift  shelter  known  as  a  "half-faced  camp." 
Ground  had  to  be  cleared  also  for  planting.  Winter 
was  at  hand.    Realizing  the  urgent  necessity  for 


li 


PRETTY  PINCfflNG  TIMES"  13 


making  most  of  the  time  remaining,  the  elder 
Lincoln  put  an  ax  in  Abe's  hands  and  bade  him  fall 
to  upon  the  underbrush.  Of  this  time  and  place 
Abraham  Lincoln  wrote  in  after  years  that  it  was 
*'a  region  with  many  bears  and  other  wild  animals 
still  in  the  woods  .  .  .  the  clearing  away  of  the  sur- 
plus wood  was  the  great  task  ahead.  Abraham, 
though  very  young,  was  large  of  his  age,  and  had 
an  ax  put  into  his  hands  at  once;  and  from  that 
time  till  within  his  twenty-third  year  he  was  almost 
constantly  handling  that  most  useful  instrument." 

Their  half-faced  camp,  in  which  they  purposed 
spending  the  winter,  w^as  built  of  sapHngs  and  had 
a  roof  and  three  walls,  the  fourth  side  being  left 
open  to  serve  as  fireplace  and  chimney.  Odd  as 
this  may  seem,  it  was  the  sort  of  shelter  often  built 
in  those  times  when  a  temporary  home  was  needed. 
One  might  manage  to  keep  comfortable  in  it, 
especially  if  hidden  in  the  heart  of  thick  woods 
where  friendly  trees  acted  as  a  wind  shield.  The 
Lincolns  had  warm  clothing  for  day  use  and  at  night 
wTapped  themselves  in  bearskins  and  other  heavy 
coverings.     And  the  fire  was  never  out. 

Everybody  kept  busy.  The  father  had  his  hands 
full  providing  meat  for  the  larder.  Off  at  daybreak 
he  went,  his  gun  over  his  shoulder.  Abe  and 
Sally  helped  their  mother  in  her  endless  round  of 


14  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

daily  duties.  Once,  at  least,  Abe  appeared  in  the 
role  of  hunter  when,  one  morning,  he  fired  his 
father's  gun  at  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys  through  a 
chink  in  the  wall,  killing  one  of  the  birds.  But  the 
boy  did  not  enjoy  hunting  or  trapping. 

Though  there  was  no  school  for  the  children  that 
winter,  we  may  be  sure  that  Abe  often  pHed  his 
patient  mother  with  questions  about  words  and  the 
w^orld  in  general.  From  his  baby  days  Abe  was 
noted  as  a  questioner,  the  ''whys  and  wherefores" 
of  a  thing  urging  him  to  put  his  elders  through  a 
course  of  cross-examination  which  was  sometimes 
trying,  especially  to  his  father. 

At  last  w^inter  was  at  an  end,  but  then  their 
tasks  were  greater  than  ever.  Plowing  and  plant- 
ing that  virgin  soil  was  a  big  job,  and  to  increase 
the  difficulty,  it  proved  to  be  stony  ground.  How- 
ever, their  troubles  were  overcome,  and  Thomas 
Lincoln  set  to  work  on  a  substantial  log  cabin  that 
was  to  be  their  permanent  home.  By  the  autumn 
it  was  fairly  ready  for  them,  though  the  door  and 
windows  were  unfinished.  There  was  a  loft  planned 
for  the  children  to  which  they  would  climb  at  bed- 
time, not  up  a  ladder  but  by  means  of  pegs  driven 
into  the  wall.  The  one  room  ''downstairs"  had 
poles  set  in  the  wall  and  fastened  to  a  stake  to 
serve  as  a  bedstead.     Their  floor  was  mother  earth, 


"PRETTY  PINXHING  TIMES"  15 

but  they  pounded  the  dirt  hard  and  smooth  and 
covered  it  with  rugs  made  of  skins. 

Altogether,  they  considered  the  house  quite  fine. 
Without  waiting  for  finishing  touches  the  family 
moved  in ;  and  no  sooner  were  they  out  of  the  half- 
faced  camp  than  some  of  Nancy  Lincoln's  relatives 
came  to  live  in  it.  The  newcomers  were  a  Mr. 
and  IMrs.  Sparrow  and  a  nephew,  Dennis  Hanks. 
All  three  were  distant  cousins  on  the  Hanks  side, 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sparrow  had  been  kind  to  Nancy 
in  her  orphaned  girlhood.  Dennis  Hanks  was  a 
jolly,  good-hearted  lad,  some  ten  years  older  than 
Abe,  but  the  difference  in  ages  was  no  barrier  to 
their  becoming  chums.  It  is  to  Dennis  Hanks 
that  we  owe  many  of  the  picturesque  details  of 
Lincoln's  youth,  told  in  later  years. 

Another  winter,  spring,  and  summer  passed,  and 
that  spot  of  wilderness  had  been  tamed  into  giving 
them  corn  and  wheat,  and  supplied  fodder  enough 
for  a  cow  and  a  few  hogs.  But,  strange  to  say,  no 
time  was  found  in  which  to  finish  the  Lincoln  cabin  ; 
it  was  still  floorless  and  doorless,  and  the  windows 
were  merely  apertures. 

However,  just  as  their  outlook  appeared  to  be 
growing  brighter,  utter  darkness  fell.  In  October 
of  that  second  year  on  Pigeon  Creek  a  dreadful 
and  mysterious  plague  broke  out,  called  the  "milk- 


1 6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

sick,"  and  was  supposed  to  come  from  drinking  the 
milk  of  diseased  cows.  Persons  suffering  from  the 
ailment  seldom  recovered.  First  of  our  little 
colony  to  fall  ill  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sparrow,  and 
their  deaths  followed  apace.  The  nearest  doctor 
was  thirty  miles  or  more  away,  and  even  had 
he  attended  them  their  recovery  would  have  been 
doubtful.  Medical  knowledge  was  not  far  ad- 
vanced a  hundred  years  ago. 

Dennis  came  to  Kve  at  the  log  cabin.  Now 
happened  the  worst.  Nancy  Lincoln  became  vic- 
tim of  the  malady.  For  a  week  she  suffered  from 
the  terrible  fever  that  marked  the  disease,  and  on 
October  5,  18 18,  succumbed.  Before  she  died  she 
called  her  two  children  to  her  and  enjoined  them  to 
care  for  their  father,  to  do  always  what  was  right 
and  true,  and  to  love  God.  Abe  was  in  his  tenth 
year  and  Sally  in  her  twelfth  when  this  heart- 
breaking scene  was  enacted  in  their  lives.  Long 
as  he  Hved  Abraham  Lincoln  retained  a  vivid 
impression  of  that  dark  day,  and  he  never  failed  to 
obey  those  solemn  words.  He  was  fond  of  saying 
that  all  he  was,  or  ever  hoped  to  be,  he  owed  to  his 
angel  mother. 

That  bitter,  lonely  winter  poor  Sally  did  her  best 
at  keeping  house,  but  she  often  sat  by  the  hearth 
crying  for  the  mother  whose  place  she  in  vain 


"PRETTY  PINCHING  TIMES"  17 

tried  to  fill.  Abe  and  Dennis  noticed  her  spells  of 
grief  and  they  sought  to  cheer  her,  bringing  her 
playmates  from  the  deep  woods.  Once  they 
brought  her  a  baby  raccoon,  then  they  gave  her  a 
comical  turtle,  and  they  tried  to  get  her  a  pretty 
fawn  to  comfort  her,  but  failed  to  catch  it.  Refer- 
ring to  these  dark  days  Abe  said  that  they  were 
"pretty  pinching  times." 

Silently  Abe  sorrowed  over  the  loss  of  his  mother. 
The  sensitive  boy  missed  the  offices  of  religion  at 
the  grave  and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  have  prayers 
said  there.  Back  in  Kentucky  he  knew  of  a  friendly 
clergyman,  the  Reverend  David  Elkin,  who  had 
often  visited  their  home  on  Knob  Creek.  A  few 
months  after  his  mother's  death,  Abe  got  word  to 
this  minister,  and  through  snow  the  good  man 
journeyed  to  repeat  the  divine  words  the  boy 
craved  to  hear. 

From  far  and  near  neighbors  gathered  to  listen 
and  pray  under  the  wide  sycamore  that  sheltered 
the  humble  mound  over  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln. 
And  the  service  done,  Abe  felt  that  the  memory  of 
his  gentle  mother,  "who  gave  us  Lincoln,  and  never 
knew,"  had  been  sanctified  at  last. 


CHAPTER  III 

A  Welcome  Stepmother 

Desolate  was  that  winter  of  i8 18-19,  and  the 
succeeding  summer  hardly  better.  Listlessly 
Thomas  Lincoln  went  about  his  work.  Already 
the  children  looked  unkempt.  Sally  could  cook 
and  wash  after  a  fashion,  but  she  was  not  able  to 
make  clothes.  Another  winter  was  fairly  upon 
them  when,  one  day  in  late  November,  the  father 
bade  the  family  good-by  and  told  them  he  was 
going  to  Elizabethtown ;  it  was  his  object  to  ask 
an  old  sweetheart  of  his,  now  a  widow  with  three 
children,  to  marry  him.  Losing  no  time,  he  called 
on  the  lady,  Mrs.  Sarah  Bush  Johnston,  and  laid 
the  case  before  her. 

"I  have  no  wife  and  you  no  husband,"  he  said. 
"I  came  a-purpose  to  marry  you.  I  knowed 
you  from  a  gal  and  you  knowed  me  from  a  boy. 
I've  no  time  to  lose;  and  if  you're  willin'  let  it 
be  done  straight  off !" 

Abrupt  but  earnest  was  his  plea.  The  widow 
hesitated,  made  a  trifling  objection,  and  then  ac- 

18 


A  WELCOME  STEPMOTHER  19 

cepted.  On  December  2,  1819,  they  were  married, 
and  at  once  preparations  were  made  to  journey  out 
to  Little  Pigeon  Creek.  The  bride  had  a  lot  of 
line  furniture  to  take  along,  including  chairs,  tables, 
bedsteads,  and  a  wonderful  walnut  bureau,  the 
like  of  which  her  new  husband  thought  it  a  sin  to 
own.  A  generous  relative  of  Thomas  Lincoln's 
placed  at  their  service  his  big  wagon  and  a  double 
team  of  horses.  The  furniture  loaded,  they  climbed 
aboard  and  set  out. 

One  can  readily  picture  the  astonishment  of  Abe 
and  Sally  as  the  cavalcade  drove  up  to  the  cabin, 
and  the  happiness  which  seized  them  on  learning 
that  the  tall,  sweet-faced  woman  was  their  new 
mother.  And  to  crown  the  joy,  they  were  to  have 
also  another  brother  and  two  sisters  !  Fancy  what 
this  meant  in  their  lonely  lives ! 

Mrs.  Lincoln  bustled  about  and  soon  the  w^hole 
place  was  transformed.  Abe  and  Sally  were  intro- 
duced to  a  scrubbing  of  soap  and  water  and  were 
given  clean,  warm  clothes  to  wear.  Their  beds  of 
corn  husks  and  leaves  in  the  loft  were  exchanged 
for  those  of  feathers.  Nor  was  Thomas  Lincoln 
permitted  to  let  the  house  go  unfinished  any 
longer !  A  puncheon  log  floor  was  laid  ;  a  suitable 
door  was  cut  and  hung ;  and  window  frames  made 
and  set. 


20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Transformation  complete!  Lincoln's  second 
mother  was  altogether  a  remarkable  woman.  Not 
only  did  she  keep  her  home  in  spotless  order  and 
inspire  its  inmates  to  industry  and  cheer,  but  she 
maintained  peace  and  love  in  her  mixed  family. 

From  the  first  Abe  attracted  her,  and  the  awk- 
ward, long-legged  lad  responded  to  her  affection. 
Though  she  herself  possessed  scanty  knowledge, 
she  appreciated  the  true  value  of  education.  In 
her  Abe  had  a  stanch  ally  in  his  efforts  to  improve 
his  mind.  As  she  once  said  :  *'  I  induced  my  hus- 
band to  permit  Abe  to  read  and  study  at  home 
as  well  as  at  school.  At  first  he  was  not  easily 
reconciled  to  it,  but  finally  he  seemed  willing  to 
encourage  him  to  a  certain  extent.  Abe  was  a 
dutiful  son  to  me  always,  and  we  took  particular 
care  when  he  was  reading  not  to  disturb  him." 
But  in  truth  Abe's  father  was  sorely  vexed  because 
the  boy  preferred  books  to  an  ax  or  saw;  for 
Thomas  Lincoln  wanted  him  to  be  a  carpenter,  and 
tried  to  teach  him  the  trade,  but  Abe  only  apphed 
himself  half-heartedly. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  nevertheless  sent  Abe  and  the  other 
children  to  school  under  a  certain  Azel  Dorsey,  a 
man  with  a  progressive  mind.  The  teacher  talked 
politics,  and  found  in  Abe  an  eager  listener.  Dor- 
sey was  proud  of  this  intelHgent  pupil.     A  class- 


A  WELCOME  STEPMOTHER  21 

mate  said  of  Abe  at  this  period :  ''He  was  always 
at  school  early,  and  attended  to  his  studies.  He 
was  always  at  the  head  of  his  class,  and  passed  us 
rapidly  in  his  studies.  He  lost  no  time  at  home, 
and  when  he  was  not  at  work  was  at  his  books." 

Figuring  on  the  fire  shovel,  a  broad  wooden 
implement,  was  one  of  the  persevering  student's 
ways  of  learning.  He  used  a  piece  of  charcoal  for 
pencil,  and  afterwards  scraped  oft  the  sums  with  a 
knife.  Down  beside  the  fire,  on  the  hearth,  he 
would  fling  himself  to  obtain  the  light  he  needed. 

But  delights  of  learning  were  to  be  obtained  only 
*'by  littles."  Whenever  Thomas  Lincoln  decided 
he  wanted  him,  the  boy  would  be  taken  from 
school.  Abe,  however,  stole  hours  from  sleep  to 
review  what  he  had  learned.  All  over  the  place 
were  traces  of  his  scholarship  —  examples  and 
sentences  on  the  walls,  on  the  floor,  even  on  the 
fences  and  trees ! 

Of  all  companions  his  stepmother  understood 
him  best.  Seeing  him  sprawled  by  the  fire  she 
would  encourage  him  to  read  aloud  the  book  in 
hand.  Books  were  few,  but  Abe  found  pleasure 
in  re-reading  them  until  he  knew  them  by  heart ; 
he  also  developed  a  talent  for  mimicking  public 
speakers,  especially  the  clerg^inen  he  heard. 
Mounted  on  the  stump  of  a  tree  for  pulpit,  he  would 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

orate  and  berate  in  the  most  approved  manner  then 
current. 

Several  years  elapsed  before  Abe  again  attended 
school.  When  about  fourteen  he  secured  a  few 
months'  instruction  under  Andrew  Crawford,  a 
man  of  superior  culture,  who,  among  other  things, 
gave  lessons  in  good  manners.  He  taught  his  pupils 
how  to  enter  a  room  like  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and 
how  to  leave  it,  and  initiated  them  into  other  forms 
of  poHteness.  These  social  graces  must  have 
shown  Abe  Lincoln  an  ungainly  figure.  He  looked 
all  arms  and  legs.  One  of  the  girls  attending  the 
Crawford  school  has  left  us  the  following  unflatter- 
ing portrait :  — 

"His  skin  was  shriveled  and  yellow.  His  shoes, 
when  he  had  any,  were  low.  He  wore  buckskin 
breeches,  linsey-woolsey  shirt,  and  a  cap  made  of 
the  skin  of  a  squirrel  or  coon.  His  breeches  were 
baggy  and  lacked  by  several  inches  the  tops  of 
his  shoes,  thereby  exposing  his  shin  bone,  sharp, 
blue,  and  narrow." 

Those  who  laughed  at  his  scarecrow  appearance, 
however,  were  forced  to  respect  his  scholarship. 
His  mind,  if  not  his  body,  was  better  clothed  than 
theirs.  None  of  his  fellows  could  stand  up  long 
against  him  in  a  spelUng  match,  and  in  the  writing 
of   compositions  he  had  no  peers.     "Cruelty  to 


A  WELCOME  STEPMOTHER  23 

Animals"  was  one  of  his  subjects,  and  in  it  he  took 
to  task  those  who  wantonly  hurt  dumb  brutes. 
Consideration  for  animals  was  a  novel  idea  to  his 
companions  —  they  had  never  heard  of  such  regard 
for  mere  dogs  and  horses ! 

We  have  this  souvenir  of  those  school-days, 
discovered  in  one  of  his  sum-books :  — 

"  Abraham  Lincoln  is  my  name 
And  wilh  my  pen  I  wrote  the  same, 
I  wrote  in  both  haste  and  speed 
And  left  it  here  for  fools  to  read." 

Like  his  other  terms  in  school,  that  at  Crawford's 
was  short  and  sweet.  His  time  belonged  to  his  father, 
and  Abe  was  often  hired  out  to  busy  neighbors  at  a 
wage  of  twenty-five  cents  a  day.  His  last  glimpse 
of  school  came  in  his  seventeenth  year.  Attend- 
ance there  required  a  walk  of  nine  miles  a  day. 
Swaney  was  the  name  of  his  last  teacher.  What 
he  learned  from  him  is  largely  left  to  our  imagina- 
tions, but  the  Friday  ''recitations"  must  have 
found  in  Abe  an  eager  participant. 

Altogether,  his  schooling,  from  his  seventh  to  his 
seventeenth  year,  did  not  amount  to  a  full  year. 
But  in  that  interval  he  got  hold  of,  and  managed  to 
read,  a  half  dozen  excellent  books,  absorbing  them 
with  an  intensity  peculiar  to  himself.     Aside  from 


24  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  Bible,  which  he  knew  thoroughly,  he  read 
''i^sop's  Fables,"  ''Robinson  Crusoe,"  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  a  "History  of  the  United  States,"  and 
Parson  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington."  This 
"life"  was  a  favorite  volume,  and  Lincoln  always 
spoke  highly  of  it. 

How  Abe  came  to  own  this  Weems  book  is 
interesting.  It  belonged  to  one  Josiah  Crawford 
(not  the  poHte  schoolmaster),  a  man  who  had  ac- 
quired a  reputation  for  hardness  and  meanness. 
Abe  borrowed  it.  One  night  he  left  the  volume 
in  a  roof-chink  and  it  was  damaged  by  rain.  The 
boy  was  crestfallen  and  apologetic.  He  offered 
Josiah  Crawford  any  equivalent  in  his  power  to 
offset  the  injury.  Seeing  his  chance  and  seizing  it, 
the  crafty  farmer  declared  the  book  to  be  worth 
seventy-five  cents,  and  said  that  Abe  might  own  it 
outright  by  working  three  days  at  pulling  fodder. 
It  was  back-breaking  toil,  but  Abe  accepted  the 
conditions  and  went  to  work  cheerfully.  After- 
wards the  boy  got  even  with  the  taskmaster  by 
ridiculing  the  big,  blue  nose  of  Crawford  in  various 
verses. 

Taking  corn  to  the  mill  for  grinding  was  one 
of  the  delights  of  Abe's  boyhood.  While  waiting 
their  turn  at  the  mill,  the  men  and  lads  gathered 
there  would  hold  athletic  meets  and  long-winded 


A  WELCOME   STEPMOTHER  25 

debates.  Abe  held  his  own  at  either  diversion. 
He  was  surprisingly  strong  for  one  of  his ''spindle 
shanks"  and  narrow  chest,  and  his  ''stunts"  were 
the  talk  of  the  circle.  Once,  at  the  mill,  Abe 
nearly  lost  his  life.  A  horse  kicked  him  insensible. 
The  group  thought  him  dead.  But  he  recovered, 
and  his  first  words  completed  the  sentence  of 
command  which  he  had  been  giving  the  horse 
when  kicked. 

During  these  days  it  was  his  love  of  knowledge 
that  tormented  him  more  than  anything  else;  he 
was  so  desirous  to  know  things  and  his  means  of 
satisfying  his  craving  were  so  inadequate.  His  own 
words  \avidly  express  this  hungering  and  striving 
for  knowledge :  — 

"I  remember  how,  when  a  mere  child,  I  used  to 
get  irritated  when  anybody  talked  to  me  in  a  way 
I  could  not  understand.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  got 
angry  at  anything  else  in  my  life ;  but  that  always 
disturbed  my  temper,  and  has  ever  since.  I  can 
remember  going  to  my  little  bedroom,  after  hearing 
the  neighbors  talk  of  an  evening  w^ith  my  father, 
and  spending  no  small  part  of  the  night  walking 
up  and  down  and  trying  to  make  out  what  was  the 
exact  meaning  of  some  of  their,  to  me,  dark  sayings. 
I  could  not  sleep,  although  I  tried  to,  when  I  got 
on  such  a  hunt  for  an  idea,  until  I  had  caught  it ; 


/ 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  when  I  thought  I  had  got  it,  I  was  not  satisfied 
until  I  had  repeated  it  over  and  over ;  until  I  had 
put  it  in  language  plain  enough,  as  I  thought,  for 
any  boy  I  knew  to  comprehend.  This  was  a  kind 
of  passion  with  me,  and  it  has  stuck  by  me ;  for 
I  am  never  easy  now,  when  I  am  handling  a  thought, 
till  I  have  bounded  it  north,  and  bounded  it  south, 
and  bounded  it  east,  a.nd  bounded  it  west." 

Unwittingly,  the  boy  was  cultivating  the  power 
to  think  by  a  method  which  even  the  profoundest 
student  could  scarcely  improve. 


CHAPTER   IV 

New  Experiences 

At  eighteen  years  of  age  Abe  Lincoln  had  at- 
tained that  height  which  marked  him  among 
men  —  six  feet,  four  inches  tall.  His  stepmother 
used  to  say  she  was  afraid  lest  he  mark  up  her 
ceiling  which,  at  that  time,  had  secured  the  re- 
fining touch  of  whitewash.  This  was  one  of  her 
regular  jokes.  The  remark  gave  Abe  an  idea  for 
a  prank.  Waiting  until  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  absent, 
he  got  hold  of  some  youngsters,  had  them  ''muddy" 
their  feet,  and  then,  turning  them  upside-down, 
made  them  walk  over  the  snowy  ceiling.  Upon 
her  return,  Mrs.  Lincoln,  viewing  the  highly  origi- 
nal decoration,  did  not  know  whether  to  laugh  or 
cry.  But  she  saw  the  funny  side  first.  Then  the 
chief  joker  assured  her  that  the  ceiHng  needed  a 
new  coat  of  whitewash  anyhow,  so  he  obtained  a 
fresh  lot  of  lime  and  did  the  job. 

Abe's  love  of  a  joke  or  a  laugh  became  a  byword. 
That,  and  his  perpetual  reading  of  his  few  books, 
caused  many  of  the  natives  to  put  him  down  as 

27 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

a  good-natured,  lazy  fellow.  Even  when  at  work 
in  the  field  he  carried  a  book,  which  he  would 
pore  over  industriously  at  odd  times.  But  if  there 
were  companion-workers  in  the  field  he  would 
like  as  not  mount  a  stump  and  deliver  a  speech 
that  would  set  them  all  laughing. 

One  employer  grew  justly  annoyed  at  his  antics 
and  called  him  to  account.  Abe  smiled,  and 
replied  that  his  father  had  taught  him  to  work, 
true  enough,  but  had  failed  to  teach  him  to  love 
it!  Nevertheless,  he  performed  every  jot  of  his 
task,  doing  as  much  as  any  "hand,"  for  his  strength 
was  equal  to  that  of  three  men,  and  he  always 
made  up  for  lost  time.  Many  stories  are  told  of 
his  enormous  physical  power;  how  he  lifted  two 
heavy  logs  that  three  men  were  in  doubt  about 
handling,  and  how  he  once  carried  a  chicken  coop 
weighing  nearly  six  hundred  pounds.  Dennis 
Hanks'  tribute  was  :  — 

"And  how  he  would  chop !  His  ax  would  flash 
and  bite  into  a  sugar  tree  or  sycamore,  and  down 
it  would  come.  If  you  heard  him  felling  trees, 
you  would  think  there  were  three  men  at  work, 
they  came  down  so  fast."  Abe  gloried  in  his 
reputation  for  strength,  and  in  that  primitive 
community  it  won  him  more  respect  and  honor  than 
all  the  learning  that  he  could  cram  into  his  head. 


NEW  EXPERIENCES  29 

The  social  life  of  these  rude  forefathers  was  far 
from  polished.  Weddings,  log-rollings,  and  house- 
raisings  afforded  the  people  their  fullest  opportuni- 
ties for  *'a  good  time." 

One  of  the  leading  attractions  in  the  life  of  the 
simple  settlers  was  church,  and  whenever  a  preacher 
came  into  their  midst  it  was  sign  for  rejoicing. 
They  thought  nothing  of  walking  eight  or  ten  miles 
to  attend  service  which,  in  the  summer  time,  was 
usually  held  outdoors.  A  church  meeting  meant  a 
gathering  of  the  neighbors  far  and  near.  Often  the 
congregation  remained  for  several  days,  visiting  and 
hobnobbing.  Refreshments  would  be  served  before 
the  sermon,  the  preacher  receiving  special  dainties. 

During  these  half  dozen  years  of  life  on  Pigeon 
Creek,  the  adjacent  town  of  Gentry ville,  a  mile 
and  a  half  east  of  the  Lincoln  farm,  had  developed. 
It  was  now  a  village  of  about  a  dozen  houses,  and 
was  named  after  its  founder  and  leading  citizen, 
James  Gentry.  Like  every  place  of  the  kind,  it 
had  a  general  store,  where  anything  from  eggs  to 
nails  might  be  bought  or  exchanged.  A  man  by 
the  name  of  Jones  kept  this  store,  and  one  winter 
he  asked  Abe  to  help  him.  Eagerly  the  offer  was 
accepted.  Here,  Abe  knew,  he  would  see  the 
Louisville  newspaper  regularly,  and  have  a  chance 
to  discuss  questions  of  the  day  with  customers. 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Soon  Abe  was  the  principal  attraction  of  the 
store.  His  droll  stories  drew  a  crowd  of  amused 
listeners,  while  his  more  serious  arguments  gained 
him  an  attentive  audience.  PoHtics  was  the  all- 
absorbing  theme,  and  slavery  a  fruitful  topic. 
Men  were  beginning  to  talk  of  negro  slavery  as  a 
crime.  A  few  abolition  societies  had  been  formed, 
and  there  were  newspapers  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
freeing  slaves  in  the  United  States.  Slavery  was 
a  question  that  would  fall  readily  to  the  tongue  of 
young  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  it  is  said,  on  excellent 
authority,  that  his  parents  were  opposed  to  the 
practice. 

About  this  time  the  tall  and  awkward  youth 
engaged  in  a  venture  that  gave  him  a  chance  to 
see  a  little  more  of  the  world.  At  a  wage  of  thirty- 
seven  cents  a  day,  he  hired  himself  to  one  James 
Taylor,  who  ran  a  ferry  across  the  Ohio  River, 
at  Anderson's  Creek.  Abe  himself  was  the  motor 
power  of  the  boat.  It  proved  one  of  the  toughest 
jobs  he  had  yet  undertaken.  But  Abe  was  not 
to  be  balked  of  all  pleasure  and  improvement. 
Working  on  the  ferry,  he  became  acquainted  with 
a  kindly  lawyer.  Judge  Pitcher,  who  owned  a 
fair-sized  library.  Making  known  his  love  of 
reading,  Abe  obtained  permission  to  borrow  books. 
Over  these  he  would  pore  until  midnight  warned 


NEW  EXPERIENCES  31 

him  that  in  a  few  hours  more  he  would  be  due  at 
the  ferry.  Once  he  told  Judge  Pitcher  that  he 
wanted  to  study  law  but  could  not  afford  it  as  the 
need  for  him  at  home  was  too  urgent. 

Experiences  on  the  river  front  gave  Abe  an  idea 
that  he  might  do  well  if  he  had  a  boat  of  his  own, 
and  marketed  farm  products  in  outlying  parts. 
He  observed  a  number  of  men  prospering  thus. 
Kindled  by  the  prospect,  he  built  and  launched 
his  craft,  but  as  a  merchant  Abe  evidently  failed. 
There  is  one  episode,  however,  connected  with 
this  experiment  which  is  worth  repeating,  and  in 
his  own  words  it  sounds  best. 

''I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,"  he  said, 
.  .  .  "we  had  succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly  by  my 
labor,  sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify 
me  in  taking  it  down  the  river  to  sell.  After 
much  persuasion  I  had  got  the  consent  of  my 
mother  to  go,  and  had  constructed  a  flatboat  large 
enough  to  take  a  few  barrels  of  things  we  had 
gathered  to  New  Orleans.  A  steamer  was  going 
down  the  river.  We  have,  you  know,  no  wharves 
on  the  western  streams,  and  the  custom  was,  if 
passengers  were  at  any  of  the  landings  they  were  to 
go  out  in  a  boat,  the  steamer  stopping  and  taking 
them  on  board.  I  was  contemplating  my  new  boat, 
and  wondering  whether  I  could  make  it  stronger 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

or  improve  it  in  any  part,  when  two  men  with 
trunks  came  down  to  the  shore  in  carriages,  and 
looking  at  the  different  boats,  singled  out  mine  and 
asked,  ^Who  owns  this?'  I  answered  modestly, 
^I  do.'  'Will  you,'  said  one  of  them,  'take  us  and 
our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer?'  'Certainly,' 
said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the  chance  of 
earning  something,  and  supposed  that  each  of 
them  would  give  me  a  couple  of  bits.^  The  trunks 
were  put  in  my  boat,  the  passengers  seated  them- 
selves on  them,  and  I  sculled  them  out  to  the 
steamer.  They  got  on  board  and  I  hfted  the 
trunks  and  put  them  on  the  deck.  The  steamer 
was  about  to  put  on  steam  again,  when  I  called 
out,  'You  have  forgotten  to  pay  me.'  Each  of 
them  took  from  his  pocket  a  silver  half  dollar  and 
threw  it  on  the  bottom  of  my  boat.  I  could 
scarcely  believe  my  eyes  as  I  picked  up  the  money. 
You  may  think  it  was  a  very  little  thing,  and  in 
these  days  it  seems  to  me  like  a  trifle,  but  it  was 
a  most  important  incident  in  my  Kfe.  I  could 
scarcely  credit  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a 
dollar  in  less  than  a  day;  that  by  honest  work  I 
had  earned  a  dollar.  I  was  a  more  hopeful  and 
thoughtful  boy  from  that  time." 

1  A  "  bit "  was  twelve  and  a  half  cents. 


CHAPTER  V 

When  Abe  was  Twenty-one 

Dissatisfied  with  fann  life,  accepting  anything 
that  would  take  him  from  it,  Abe's  lot  fretted  him 
during  these  days  when  the  boy  was  merging  into 
the  man.  The  river  was  a  lure  from  which  he 
found  it  difficult  to  escape.  Flowing  along,  it 
seemed  to  urge  him  to  follow.  Once  he  thought  of 
seeking  a  job  aboard  a  steamboat. 

Ambition's  wings  were  sprouting.  He  wrote 
compositions  that  were  praised.  One,  on  ''Tem- 
perance," aroused  the  fervor  of  a  Baptist  minister 
to  an  extent  that  resulted  in  the  printing  of  it  in 
a  newspaper.  Another  effort  entitled  ''National 
PoUtics"  won  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  a 
lawyer,  who  declared  that  "the  world  couldn't 
beat  it!" 

Commendation  from  such  authorities  made  the 
backwoods  boy  feel  that  his  wings  were  strong 
enough  for  a  longer  flight  than  any  he  had  yet 
attempted. 

33 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Already  Abe  had  read  every  book  he  could  lay 
hands  on  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles.  Whole  pas- 
sages he  could  repeat  from  memory.  And  it  was  his 
habit  to  copy  favorite  bits  of  prose  and  verse  in  a 
notebook  that  he  made  by  sewing  some  sheets  of 
paper  together.  With  pains  he  copied  extracts, 
using  a  turkey-buzzard  feather  for  pen,  and  ink 
manufactured  out  of  brier-roots  or  walnut  shells. 

Among  other  books  borrowed,  Abe  read  one 
called  ''The  Statutes  of  Indiana,"  a  bulky  volume, 
and  one  that  ordinarily  would  repel  a  boy  nineteen. 
It  was  meat  and  drink  to  Abe  !  In  it  he  found  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  Indiana,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Through  this  volume  he  enlarged  his 
knowledge  of  his  country's  history,  and  learned 
something  of  the  complexities  of  law. 

More  and  more  his  mind  turned  to  the  law,  and 
whenever  the  chance  came  he  walked  to  Boonville, 
fifteen  miles  away,  to  attend  court.  This  became 
a  delightful  diversion.  Having  listened  one  day 
to  a  thrilling  speech  at  a  murder  trial,  he  excitedly 
rose  to  congratulate  the  orator;  but  the  eloquent 
gentleman  of  the  bar  snubbed  his  uncouth  admirer. 

Poor  Abe  was  chagrined  at  this  churhsh  treat- 
ment. Time,  however,  brought  him  full  redress, 
for  some  thirty  years  later  the  aristocratic  lawyer 


WHEN  ABE  WAS  TWENTY-ONE  35 

and  his  admirer  met  in  Washington  when  their 
relative  positions  were  far  different.  Lincoln 
with  a  smile  mentioned  their  encounter  that  day 
in  Boonville,  but  the  Kentucky  gentleman  had 
forgotten,  or  wished  to  forget,  the  incident. 

At  length,  after  much  secret  chafmg  at  his 
bonds,  an  opportunity  presented  itself  for  Abe 
to  see  more  of  the  world.  James  Gentry,  of 
Gentryville,  knowing  the  quality  of  the  youth, 
asked  him  to  take  a  load  of  produce  down  to  New 
Orleans  and  dispose  of  it.  Abe  jumped  at  the 
suggestion.  Arrangements  were  completed  forth- 
with. He  and  Allan  Gentry,  a  son  of  the  promoter, 
assumed  joint  responsibility  for  the  voyage.  Abe 
was  to  receive  eight  dollars  a  month  and  board. 
In  March,  1828,  the  two  boys  launched  upon  their 
thousand-mile  trip  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers,  at  a  sleepy  pace  of  from  four  to  six  miles  an 
hour.  Swung  on  to  the  bosom  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  lads  began  the  barter  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
sugar  for  their  potatoes,  bacon,  and  jeans. 

By  the  end  of  a  week  they  had  floated  into  a 
land  of  summer.  Strange  and  interesting  sights 
were  on  all  sides.  Gangs  of  slaves  were  seen  at 
work  on  plantations.  Then  came  the  big  city. 
That  was  a  wonderful  moment !  New  Orleans  was 
at  the  height  of  its  glory,  a  metropoHs  of  the  first 


36  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

rank,  the  center  of  commerce  and  society.  Its 
wharves  were  crowded  with  ships  from  foreign 
lands.  A  mixture  of  languages  must  have  filled 
the  ears  of  the  backwoods  boys  —  French,  Spanish, 
Dutch. 

One  exciting  adventure  befell  them.  Their 
flatboat  had  been  tied  up  for  overnight  at  a  planta- 
tion a  few  miles  below  Baton  Rouge.  The  boys 
were  asleep  in  their  bunks  when  stealthy  footsteps 
awoke  them.  A  gang  of  thieving  negroes  had 
boarded  the  boat  to  rob  it.  Grasping  a  club, 
Abe  instantly  attacked  the  marauders  with  a 
violence  that  pitched  several  overboard,  and  their 
astonished  companions  were  put  to  flight.  Gen- 
try joined  the  fray,  and  the  two  boys  pursued  the 
thieves,  beating  them  until  they  were  exhausted. 

As  souvenir  of  the  occasion,  Lincoln  bore  a 
small  scar  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  but  it  did 
not  leave  him  with  any  prejudice  against  the  negro 
race.  Lincoln  never  bore  a  grudge.  Dennis 
Hanks  said,  "When  God  made  Abe  Lincoln  He 
left  the  meanness  out  for  other  folks  to  divide 
up  among  'em." 

Aside  from  the  midnight  fracas,  the  trip  was 
successful  in  every  respect.  In  June  they  were 
back  home,  ha\dng  sold  cargo  and  boat,  and 
feeling  quite  men  of  the  world. 


WHEN  ABE  WAS  TWTXTi^-OXE  37 

It  may  have  been  difficult  to  resume  the  ordinary 
duties  of  life  again,  but  so  far  as  we  know  Abe  ful- 
filled them  to  the  letter.  A  year  went  by,  unevent- 
ful save  for  the  untimely  death  of  Lincoln's 
sister,  Sarah  Lincoln,  which  was  Abe's  second 
great  sorrow.  In  the  autunm  of  1829  the  dreaded 
"milk-sick"  again  broke  out  in  the  Lincoln  settle- 
ment. Dennis  Hanks,  then  a  married  man  with 
a  growing  family,  was  despondent  at  the  loss  of 
cattle.  He  considered  a  move  to  a  more  healthful 
neighborhood  urgent. 

Fourteen  years  on  the  Pigeon  Creek  property 
had  not  given  them  many  comforts.  The  land 
was  poor.  WTiy  remain?  Near  by,  Illinois  was 
booming,  and  rich  land  might  be  had  at  a  dollar- 
and-a-quarter  an  acre.  The  stream  of  emigration 
had  set  in  that  direction.  John  Hanks,  a  cousin 
of  the  Lincolns,  had  sent  them  word  that  he  would 
select  for  them  a  desirable  piece  of  land. 

Fate  was  in  it.  Glad  to  go,  Thomas  Lincoln 
sold  his  land  and  stock.  Household  belongings 
were  loaded  into  wagons  drawn  by  oxen,  and  off 
the  caravan  lumbered  in  March,  1830.  Abe  acted 
as  driver.  He  had  just  reached  his  majority  and 
was  his  own  master  at  last;  but  he  had  decided 
to  see  his  father  settled  in  the  new  land  of  promise 
before  tackling  the  world  on  his  own  account. 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Abe  had  a  private  scheme,  however,  to  ''try 
out"  during  the  journey  from  Indiana  to  IlKnois. 
He  had  invested  some  thirty  dollars  in  "notions," 
bu}dng  them  of  Jones  in  Gentryville,  and  this 
stock  he  peddled  whenever  they  passed  through 
a  populated  section.  Knives  and  forks,  needles 
and  pins,  buttons  too,  he  sold.  Subsequently 
he  wrote  to  Jones  that  he  doubled  his  money. 

Two  weeks  they  were  on  the  road  and  covered 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Spring  thaw 
had  set  in,  and  their  going  was  through  endless 
reaches  of  deep  mud.  Streams  they  had  to  ford 
were  coated  with  thin  ice.  Thickets  beset  their 
progress.  Abe  had  his  hands  full.  Mired  in  mud 
or  stuck  in  a  hole  at  the  bottom  of  a  stream,  he 
had  to  use  all  his  ingenuity  to  overcome  obstacles. 
He  also  was  their  self-appointed  jester  and  kept  up 
the  flagging  spirits  of  the  party.  They  probably 
never  fully  appreciated  what  he  did  for  them  on 
that  long,  dreary  trek  through  the  wilds,  solving 
their  difficulties  and  keeping  up  their  spirits. 

One  episode  of  the  journey  reveals  Abe's  tender 
heart.  Crossing  an  ice-filled  brook,  a  little  dog  of 
theirs  was  accidentally  left  behind.  All  save  Abe 
were  in  favor  of  leaving  the  animal  to  its  fate,  as 
it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  recross  the  stream 
for  an  insignificant  creature  like  that.     But  while 


WHEN  ABE  WAS  TWENTY-ONE  39 

they  discussed  the  question,  Abe  had  taken  off  his 
shoes  and  stockings  and  had  waded  into  the  freez- 
ing water  in  defiance  of  consequences.  The  little 
dog  was  rescued,  and  Abe  declared  that  the  animal's 
joy  more  than  repaid  him  for  his  effort  and  risk. 

After  many  adventures,  pleasant  and  unpleasant, 
the  outfit  arrived  at  the  homestead  of  Cousin  John 
Hanks,  in  Macon  County,  five  miles  northwest  of 
Decatur.  Five  miles  farther  west  John  had  se- 
lected a  site  for  them,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sanga- 
mon River.     It  proved  a  charming  location. 

Right  willingly  they  set  to  work  building  a  house 
under  the  supervision  of  Thomas  Lincoln.  Trees 
were  felled,  logs  hewed,  and  the  structure  went  up 
quickly.  Abe  and  John  Kanks  hitched  the  oxen 
to  plows  and  broke  up  fifteen  acres  of  ground  for 
planting ;  then  they  wielded  axes  and  split  walnut 
rails  enough  to  fence  in  the  fields  —  rails  that  were 
destined  to  become  more  famous  than  any  ever 
made  before  or  since. 

The  region  was  very  thinly  settled  and  there 
were  more  square  miles  than  people.  Decatur 
and  Springfield,  both  near,  were  merely  straggling 
villages.     Chicago  was  not  dreamed  of. 

To  his  father's  holdings  Abe  devoted  much  of 
his  time  and  labor  during  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1830,  but  if  a  good  outside  job  offered  itself  he 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

gladly  accepted  it.  One  of  these  odd  jobs  was  to 
split  rails  in  payment  for  sufficient  material  to 
make  him  a  suit  of  butternut-dyed  jeans,  for  each 
yard  of  goods  Abe  agreeing  to  split  four  hundred 
rails ! 

Illinois  people  soon  showed  a  liking  for  Abe. 
His  talk  won  friends  everywhere.  It  is  related 
that  he  once  put  a  passing  orator  to  shame  in  a 
speech  on  the  navigation  possibiHties  of  the 
Sangamon  River.  And  it  is  said  that  the  beaten 
orator  congratulated  Abe  on  his  abiUty. 

The  first  winter  in  the  new  home  was  dishearten- 
ing. Autumn  brought  them  fever  and  ague,  and 
Christmas  ushered  in  a  snowstorm  of  unexampled 
severity.  Three  days  it  continued  in  blinding 
sweep.  Then  followed  a  freeze-up  that  lasted 
two  weeks.  Men  and  animals  perished  in  great 
numbers.  That  period  of  suffering  and  death  is 
known  to  history  as  ''the  winter  of  the  deep 
snow."  For  generations  men  talked  about  it  and 
dated  events  by  it. 

To  the  Lincolns,  though  they  came  through  the 
ordeal,  the  Sangamon  locality  was  no  longer  charm- 
ing. Plans  to  move  again  were  in  the  air.  Mean- 
while, Abe  had  his  own  immediate  plans.  In  the 
autumn  of  1830  he  had  met  a  man  named  Denton 
Offutt,  who  announced  his  intention  to  send  a 


WHEN  ABE  WAS  TWENTY-ONE  41 

flatboat  of  produce  down  to  New  Orleans  in  the 
spring.  OfTutt  engaged  Abe,  John  Hanks,  and  John 
Johnston  (Abe's  stepbrother)  to  make  the  trip. 
Each  man  was  to  receive  fifty  cents  a  day  and  a 
bonus  of  twenty  dollars  at  the  end  of  the  job, 
provided  it  was  a  success.  The  three  agreed  to 
meet  Ofifutt  in  Springfield  in  March,  183 1. 

When  the  time  came,  the  country  was  flooded 
from  the  melting  snows,  but  the  three  young 
fellows  bought  a  canoe  and  paddled  to  within  five 
miles  of  Springfield,  walking  the  rest  of  the  way. 
They  found  their  employer  in  a  tavern,  the  picture 
of  woe.  Offutt  told  them,  in  explanation,  that  he 
had  been  unable  to  hire  or  buy  a  flatboat.  The 
project  was  quashed.  But  why  not  build  a  flat- 
boat  themselves?   the  three  inquired  of  Oflutt. 

This  they  did.  Mightily  pleased,  Offutt  agreed 
to  pay  them  each  twelve  dollars  a  month  until  the 
boat  was  ready.  In  a  month  it  was  completed.  It 
was  a  clumsy  craft  with  plank-and-canvas  sails,  and 
was  to  be  the  cause  of  much  merriment  on  the  river. 

Early  in  April  the  cargo  —  hogs,  pork  in  barrels, 
and  corn  —  was  put  aboard,  and  the  venture  was 
fairly  under  way.  At  New  Salem,  a  tiny  hamlet 
along  the  Sangamon,  the  boat  stuck  on  a  dam,  and 
the  whole  population  turned  out  to  see  the  fun. 
The  \dllagers  stood  on  the  bank  and  offered  jocular 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

suggestions.  They  took  particular  interest  in  the 
actions  of  a  long,  lanky  chap  who,  with  his  trou- 
sers ''rolled  up  about  five  feet,"  was  directing 
operations.  It  was  Abe,  of  course,  devising  a 
scheme  to  move  the  flatboat  and  save  the  cargo. 
Now,  the  craft  was  caught  in  such  fashion  that  the 
bow  was  high  in  the  air  while  the  stern  was  sunk 
under  water.  Abe  rigged  up  tackle  to  hoist  out 
the  live  stock  and  produce ;  then,  when  the  boat  was 
lightened,  he  bored  a  hole  in  the  bow  and  managed 
to  tilt  the  vessel  so  that  the  water  it  held  ran  out. 

Never  before  had  the  natives  seen  a  boat  saved 
by  boring  a  hole  in  it ! 

Without  further  mishap  New  Orleans  was  reached 
and  the  cargo  sold  at  profit.  On  this  second  visit 
to  the  Crescent  City,  Abe  witnessed  the  sale  of 
slaves  in  the  slave  market.  The  sight  sickened 
him.  Afterwards  he  told  John  Hanks,  "the 
iron  entered  his  soul  then,  and  he  swore  to  hit  it 
[slavery]  hard,  if  he  ever  got  the  chance." 

By  way  of  steamboat  they  returned  as  far  as 
St.  Louis,  walking  thence  across  the  prairies  to 
the  latest  home  of  the  family  in  Coles  County, 
whither  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Dennis  Hanks  had 
removed  while  the  boys  were  absent. 

Abe  stayed  at  home  about  a  month;  then  in 
July  he  gathered  together  his  scant   possessions, 


WHEN   ABE  WAS  TWENTY-ONE  43 

bade  the  family  good-by,  and  set  out  for  New 
Salem,  the  scene  of  the  boat-boring  experiment. 
Denton  Offutt  had  been  deeply  impressed  by  the 
talents  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  had  offered  him 
a  job  as  clerk  in  his  store  in  New  Salem.  True, 
the  store  was  as  yet  merely  a  project  —  one  of 
Oilutt's  glowing  dreams  —  but  Abe  held  faith  in 
his  prospective  employer. 

Home  ties  were  at  last  broken,  his  detested 
farm  chores  were  over,  and  Abe  was  ready  to  face 
the  world.  What  lay  before  him?  If  judged 
from  past  achievement,  he  was  going  forth  with 
many  qualities  to  insure  success.  His  stepmother 
summed  him  up  feelingly  when  she  said  in  her 
simple  fashion :  — 

*'Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say  what 
scarcely  one  woman  —  a  mother  —  can  say  in  a 
thousand :  Abe  never  gave  me  a  cross  word  or 
look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact  or  appearance,  to 
do  anything  I  requested  him.  .  .  .  He  was  a 
dutiful  son  to  me  always.  I  think  he  loved  me 
truly.  ...  I  must  say  that  Abe  was  the  best 
boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect  to  see." 


CHAPTER  VI 

At  Work  in  New  Salem 

A  FRONTIER  settlement  with  never  more  than 
fifteen  log  houses  and  about  one  hundred  in- 
habitants —  such  was  New  Salem,  the  starting 
place  of  Lincoln's  career.  It  was  founded  in 
1829  by  James  Rutledge  and  John  Cameron,  who 
set  up  a  mill  on  the  Sangamon  River.  The  hamlet 
eked  out  an  existence  of  a  dozen  years,  then  quietly 
died.  When  Abe  arrived  that  July  day,  Xew 
Salem  boasted  a  gristmill,  a  sa'^-Toill,  two  stores 
and  a  tavern.  Why  Denton  Offutt  chose  this 
town  in  which  to  open  still  another  store  will 
ever  remain  a  mystery. 

Upon  his  arrival  Abe  discovered  that  he  was 
ahead  of  the  stock  his  employer  was  to  ship  there, 
so  the  friendly  young  fellow  filled  in  his  time 
getting  acquainted.  Election  Day  falling  before 
the  Offutt  goods  appeared,  the  clerk  of  the  polls, 
Mentor  Graham,  offered  the  entertaining  stranger 
a  job  as  his  assistant. 

''Can  you  write?"  asked  Graham. 

44 


AT  WORK  IN  NEW  S.\LEM  45 

**  Yes,  I  can  make  a  few  rabbit  tracks,"  replied  Abe. 

Engaged,  the  newcomer  proved  himself  both  a 
clear-handed  scribe  and  a  most  diverting  com- 
panion. His  humorous  anecdotes  seemed  inex-  ^ 
haustible.  Abe  made  a  decided  hit  with  the 
natives.  Mentor  Graham,  who  was  also  the 
village  schoolmaster,  noted  the  intelhgence  of  his 
assistant. 

Offutt's  stock  of  merchandise  arrived  in  ox 
carts,  and  in  a  httle  log  house  on  top  of  the  hill 
overhanging  the  river  the  store  was  made  ready  for 
the  pubHc.  But  trade  was  anything  but  brisk. 
To  offset  this  drawback,  the  irrepressible  Offutt 
added  a  mill  to  his  burden,  engaged  another  helper, 
a  chap  named  William  Greene,  and  awaited  a  change 
in  his  fortunes. 

Talk,  however,  continued  to  be  the  principal 
transaction.  Men  gathered  in  the  new  store  to 
discuss  crops,  politics,  and  the  future  greatness 
of  New  Salem  with  the  popular  clerk,  Abe  Link- 
horn  (the  name  was  often  pronounced  ''Linkhern'* 
and  ''Linkhorn"),  who  was  always  willing  to 
enter  an  argument.  Offutt  himself  was  bursting 
with  opinions  and  importance,  and  one  of  his 
chief  topics  of  conversation  was  his  clever  clerk. 
Offutt  declared  that  Abe  Lincoln  was  the  strongest, 
smartest  young  fellow  in  the  whole  country;  that 


46  ABIL\HAT^I  LINCOLN 

he  could  outrun,  outjump  and  "wrassle"  any- 
body. Furthermore,  Offutt  said  he  was  willing  to 
match  his  clerk  against  all  comers,  either  in  brains 
or  in  brawn.  This  wholesale  bragging  brought  its 
reward. 

A  few  miles  off  there  was  a  settlement  known  as 
Clary's  Grove,  its  population  composed  of  rough 
and  rowdy  fellows  whose  principal  mission  in  life 
was  to  terrorize  the  law-abiding  citizens.  Period- 
ically, these  gangsters  would  descend  upon  New 
Salem  and  ''clean  it  out."  Liquor  and  brawHng 
wxre  the  delight  of  their  Hves,  and  invariably  a 
stranger  in  town  had  to  undergo  a  hazing  at  their 
hands,  one  of  their  favorite  tricks  being  that  of 
putting  a  victim  in  a  barrel  and  rolling  it  downhill. 
But  these  frontier  bulHes  were  not  without  some 
sa\dng  grace,  we  beheve,  for  we  are  told  they 
worked  hard  at  times  and  often  lent  their  rude  aid 
to  the  unfortunate  or  unprotected. 

Before  the  members  of  this  ring  it  was  Offutt's 
fooKsh  pleasure  to  boast  of  Abe's  extraordinary 
powers.  In  honor  bound,  the  Clary  Grove  Boys 
felt  it  their  duty  to  test  these  claims.  Shortly 
there  came  a  challenge  to  a  wrestKng  match,  the 
Clary  crowd  swearing  their  leader,  Jack  Armstrong, 
the  better  man  of  the  two.  Armstrong  was  held 
to  be  a  ''powerful  twister." 


AT  WORK  IN  NEW  SALEM  47 

Naturally,  Abe  disliked  all  this  bluster  of  which 
he  was  made  the  center,  and  objected  to  the 
"wooling  and  pulling"  which  was  being  thrust 
upon  him.  Circumstances,  however,  forced  him  to 
accept  the  challenge,  and  the  community  turned 
out  to  enjoy  the  tussle. 

The  ''wrasslers"  met  in  a  clearing  near  the 
OfTutt  store.  Laying  hold  of  each  other,  it  was 
soon  evident  that  the  pride  of  Clary's  Grove  had 
a  worthy  opponent  in  the  tall,  thin  grocery  clerk 
whose  long  arms  were  like  flails.  Armstrong,  fear- 
ing for  his  reputation,  tried  a  foul  tactic,  which  so 
maddened  Lincoln  that  he  took  the  bully  by  the 
throat  and  shook  him  like  a  rag.  Thereupon 
the  Clary  Grove  Boys  rushed  to  their  champion's 
rescue.  It  looked  bad  for  Abe  in  that  rough  and 
tumble  fight,  but  his  pluck  against  such  odds  won 
out  for  him.  Doubtless  ashamed  of  himself  and 
full  of  admiration  for  his  antagonist,  Armstrong 
controlled  the  mob  and  offered  to  shake  hands  with 
Lincoln.  With  a  friendly  grip,  Armstrong  said  that 
Abe  was  ^'the  best  fellow  who  ever  broke  into  the 
camp." 

Thus  was  Lincoln  initiated  as  a  worthy  citizen. 
The  Clary  Grove  Boys  accepted  him  as  one  of  them 
and  supported  him  through  thick  and  thin.  They 
made  him  their  umpire  in  cockfights  and  horse 


48  ABRAIL\M  LINCOLN 

races,  and  in  their  personal  disputes  his  word  was 
final.  With  Jack  Armstrong  Abe  became  most 
friendly,  \'isiting  the  family  as  a  privileged  inti- 
mate, and,  years  later,  he  was  the  powerful  lawyer 
that  saved  Jack's  son  from  the  gallows ! 

Other  braggarts  besides  the  Clary  Grove  gang 
were  made  to  reahze  the  unsuspected  steel  in  the 
angular  frame  of  Abe  Lincoln.  While  tending  store 
it  became  his  painful  duty  more  than  once  to  ad- 
minister a  lesson  to  some  lout  who  thought  he 
could  say  and  do  as  he  pleased  on  the  Offutt 
premises.  On  one  occasion  a  loiterer  used  profane 
language  in  the  presence  of  women  customers. 
Quietly,  Abe  asked  the  offender  to  stop,  but  no 
heed  was  given  the  request  except  to  add  personal 
abuse  to  the  affront. 

''Well,''  sighed  Lincoln,  ''if  you  must  be  whipped, 
I  suppose  I  might  as  well  whip  you  as  any  other 
man ! " 

Acting  on  his  words,  he  flung  the  undesirable 
citizen  outdoors  and,  throwing  him  to  earth,  rubbed 
smart-weed  into  his  face  until  the  culprit  howled 
for  mercy.  It  was  characteristic,  too,  that  follow- 
ing the  punishment,  Abe  should  minister  to  the 
man's  hurts. 

New  Salem  was  not  slow  to  appreciate  this  sense 
of  decency  and  fairness  in  the  store  clerk.    For 


AT  WORK  IN  NEW  SALEM  49 

his  square  dealing  he  began  to  be  known  among  the 
people  as  ''Honest  Abe."  Two  of  his  deeds  of 
honesty  have  been  frequently  related.  On  one  oc- 
casion he  walked  miles  to  restore  six  and  a  quarter 
cents  to  a  customer  that  he  had  unwittingly  over- 
charged. Again,  he  carried  to  a  woman  a  few 
ounces  of  tea  that  he  had  failed  to  include  in  her 
package  because  of  a  misplaced  weight  in  the 
scales. 

Tasks  at  the  store  and  the  mill  were  not  enough 
to  keep  him  busy,  and  so  Lincoln  looked  around  for 
means  of  improving  his  time.  To  master  his 
mother  tongue  was  one  of  his  ambitions,  and  learn- 
ing from  Mentor  Graham,  w^ho  had  become  a 
helpful  friend,  that  there  was  a  copy  of  ''Kirkham's 
Grammar"  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  Abe  straight- 
way walked  far  to  borrow  it  from  the  ow^ner.  The 
book  absorbed  him.  Greene,  his  fellow-employee, 
was  often  requested  to  hold  the  grammar  and  hear 
him  recite  his  lesson.  If  any  difficulty  arose,  Abe 
w^ould  consult  Schoolmaster  Graham  for  explana- 
tion. Such  diligent  application  brought  him  speedy 
success.  Abe  said  that  he  was  astonished  to  find 
English  grammar  so  simple.  Turning  to  Greene, 
he  exclaimed, — 

''Well,  if  that's  what  they  call  a  science,  I  think 
I'll  go  another!" 


5o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Offutt's  store  did  not  succeed.  Eight  months 
had  passed  without  encouragement.  Things  looked 
on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Feehng  the  shadow  of 
the  sheriff  upon  them,  Abe  made  up  his  mind  to 
get  from  under.  He  would  put  his  popularity  to 
the  test  by  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State!  In  March,  1832,  there- 
fore, he  announced  himself  as  such,  and  had  hand- 
bills printed  setting  forth  his  poHtical  principles. 
This  circular  showed  Abe  to  be  an  ardent  Whig, 
under  the  banner  of  the  great  Henry  Clay,  and  in 
glowing  language  the  handbill  advocated  all  kinds 
of  internal  improvements,  such  as  new  roads  and 
canals,  particularly  urging  the  clearance  of  the 
Sangamon  so  that  it  might  be  open  to  trading 
vessels. 

He  could  have  chosen  no  better  topic  than  the 
Sangamon  to  win  pubHc  support,  for  the  whole 
country  was  agitated  over  the  prospect  of  bringing 
ships  of  commerce  to  the  river  towns.  It  spelled 
prosperity. 

Weeks  before  Abe's  handbills  had  been  scattered 
about,  there  had  come  word  that  a  certain  Cap- 
tain Bogue  had  pledged  himself  to  charter  the 
steamship  Talisman  for  the  express  purpose  of 
bringing  her  down  the  Sangamon,  to  prove  the 
river   navigable.     When   the   weather   permitted, 


AT  WORK  IN  NEW  SALE^I  51 

the  Talisman  made  the  memorable  trip  from 
Cincinnati  to  New  Salem.  At  Beardstown  a 
number  of  men,  including  Lincoln,  met  the  vessel, 
long  poles  in  their  hands  to  hold  back  the  branches 
of  trees  obstructing  passage,  while  the  Talisman 
pufTed  proudly  to  the  end  of  her  journey.  The 
steamship  was  tied  up  for  a  week,  during  which 
time  speeches  were  made,  parades  took  place, 
and  loud  huzzas  rang  to  heaven.  A  new  and  glo- 
rious era  was  anticipated.  Village  poets  wrote 
odes  to  the  event. 

Alas,  the  sequel  was  not  according  to  promise. 
The  return  voyage  of  the  Talisman  was  not  a 
triumph.  On  account  of  the  rapid  fall  of  the  river, 
the  steamship  had  to  crawl  along  at  the  rate  of 
four  miles  a  day.  Reaching  the  fateful  Rutledge 
dam,  the  vessel  stuck  and  hung  there  all  night.  By 
dint  of  mighty  effort  they  freed  themselves  in  the 
morning.  Neither  Captain  Bogue  nor  any  other 
man  was  ever  tempted  to  repeat  the  stunt  on  the 
Sangamon. 

Abe  Lincoln,  however,  profited  by  the  steamship 
trial.  On  the  return  trip  to  Beardstown  he  was 
engaged  as  pilot,  and  received  forty  dollars  for  his 
services.  Also,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  trying 
to  prove  the  Sangamon  River  navigable  in  prac- 
tice as  well  as  theory. 


LIBRARY 

I'NIVERSITV  nr  WV^^^^ 


52  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

These  milldam  experiences  of  Abe's  were  to 
bear  singular  fruit  in  the  years  to  come,  when  he 
tried  to  invent  and  patent  a  vessel  equipped  with  a 
clumsy  contrivance  designed  to  float  it  over  shoal 
places.  His  whittled  model  of  the  ship  may  be 
seen  in  Washington  to-day  —  a  prize  curio ! 


CHAPTER  VII 

Lincoln  as  a  Soldier 

Election  was  held  in  August,  and  Abe  had  in- 
tended to  do  his  speech-making  throughout  the 
county  of  Sangamon  in  the  months  he  would  be 
idle,  now  that  the  Offutt  establishment  had  failed. 
But  Governor  Reynolds  of  Illinois  issued  a  call 
for  volunteers  to  help  fight  old  Black  Hawk,  the 
chief  of  the  Sac  Indians,  who  was  again  defying  the 
authorities  of  the  United  States.  Black  Hawk  had 
caused  much  terror  and  bloodshed  in  his  day,  and 
only  a  year  before  had  ''touched  the  goose  quill" 
to  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  government.  He  had 
promised  to  keep  to  territory  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. On  April  6,  1832,  however,  he  crossed 
that  river  with  some  five  hundred  braves  and 
marched  up  the  valley  of  the  Rock  River  to  the 
ancient  abiding  place  of  his  tribe.  Ostensibly, 
he  only  wanted  "to  plant  corn"  in  the  land  where 
the  Sacs  had  sown  their  crops  from  ancient  days; 
but  the  settlers  of  northwestern  Illinois  were  panic- 
stricken. 

53 


54  ABIL\R\M  LINCOLN 

-  A  courier  rode  into  New  Salem  bearing  the  appeal 
of  the  governor,  which  stated  that  those  who  wished 
to  enlist  against  the  Indians  must  be  at  Beards- 
town  not  later  than  the  2  2d  day  of  April.  Among 
the  first  to  offer  themselves  as  soldiers  was  Abe 
Lincoln,  who  saw  in  the  opportunity  a  chance  for 
experience.  In  due  time  the  Xew  Salem  contin- 
gent set  off  for  Beardstown,  forty  miles  away. 
Before  arri\TQg  there,  the  men  of  Sangamon  deter- 
mined to  choose  their  captain.  Though  Lincoln 
was  a  candidate  for  the  honor,  he  was  surprised  to 
have  the  majority  of  the  men  rally  around  him  and 
elect  him  their  leader.  Nothing,  he  declared  in  after 
years,  had  ever  given  him  so  much  satisfaction. 

Under  their  new  captain  the  company  entered 
Beardsto^^Ti  and  was  made  part  of  the  Fourth 
Illinois  Regiment  which,  on  the  27th  of  April, 
moved  on  to  YeUow  Banks,  thence  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Rock  River,  and  thence  to  the  towTi  of 
DLxon  —  altogether  a  hike  of  some  ninety  miles. 
At  DLxon  they  pitched  camp  on  May  12,  all  of 
them  tired,  hungry,  and  disgruntled.  No  Indians 
had  been  seen  to  enliven  the  long  tramp,  a  real 
engagement  seemed  as  far  off  as  ever,  and,  in 
short,  there  was  no  fun  in  it. 

Captain  Lincoln's  men,  however,  had  managed 
to  find  amusement.     During  hours  of  leisure  they 


LINCOLN  AS  A  SOLDIER  55 

indulged  their  fondness  for  athletics  —  running, 
jumping,  and  wrestling.  Lincoln  himself  had  a 
tussle  with  a  recruit  named  Thompson,  and  was 
thrown  twice,  much  to  the  indignation  of  his 
loyal  followers,  who  claimed  that  Thompson  had 
employed  unfair  means  to  gain  the  victory.  But 
Lincoln  said  such  accusations  were  false,  that  he 
had  been  thrown  fairly.  This  settled  the  disputes, 
and,  if  anything,  increased  the  admiration  of  the 
men  for  their  captain,  though  upon  one  occasion 
their  lawless  behavior  resulted  in  their  captain 
being  compelled  to  wear  a  wooden  sword  for  two 
days ;  he  was  punished  for  their  sins. 

Like  other  soldiers  in  the  ranks,  Lincoln's  men, 
when  passing  through  an  abandoned  settlement, 
foraged.  At  times  the  commissary  department 
failed  to  appease  their  appetites.  Chicken  houses 
were  sometimes  raided  when  the  owners  had  left 
all  behind  in  their  hurrv  to  flee  from  redskins. 
A  side  of  bacon  dangling  from  a  ceiling  was  sweet 
reward  for  their  hardship.  There  is  a  legend  that 
once  the  famished  crew  wxre  forced  to  satisfy  their 
stomachs  on  a  gallon  of  soup  made  from  one 
lonely  dove,  a  chance  shot ! 

One  of  the  most  amusing  incidents  of  their  march 
Lincoln  was  fond  of  relating.  It  was  a  joke  on 
him.     His  company  was  swinging  along,   twenty 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

abreast,  when  they  one  day  encountered  a  fence 
that  had  only  a  narrow  opening  for  passage. 
Immediately  the  captain  realized  his  quandary  — 
he  did  not  know  the  proper  military  order  that 
would  bring  his  company  endwise,  so  it  might 
march  in  unbroken  line  through  the  gate.  Cap- 
tain Lincohi  thought  rapidly,  then  sang  out,  — 

^'Halt!  This  company  will  break  ranks  for 
two  minutes  and  form  again  on  the  other  side  of 
the  gate ! " 

We  have  but  one  serious,  almost  tragic,  episode 
to  record  of  Lincoln's  captaincy.  Into  the  camp 
wandered  an  old  Indian,  and  although  he  bore  a 
letter  from  General  Cass  proving  him  a  neutral, 
the  men  of  the  company  were  all  for  killing  him. 
Fortunately,  Captain  Lincoln  was  close  at  hand  to 
reason  with  the  angry,  thoughtless  fellows.  Even 
then,  some  of  them  persisted  in  their  dastardly 
design.  In  overpowering  rage,  Lincoln  swore 
that  if  they  carried  out  their  purpose  it  would  be 
after  they  had  killed  him.  His  men  had  never 
before  seen  their  genial  leader  angry,  and  they 
knew,  furthermore,  that  he  meant  every  word  he 
said.     Sullenly  they  gave  way  to  his  authority. 

Many  of  the  first  volunteers  were  heartily  sick 
of  the  fruitless  chase  after  Black  Hawk,  and,  by 
the  end  of  May,  were  mustered  out.    Among  them 


LINCOLN  AS  A  SOLDIER  57 

were  a  number  of  Lincoln's  company  which,  in 
consequence,  was  disbanded.  Lincohi  reenlisted 
as  a  private  under  Captain  EHjah  lies,  in  the 
'^Independent  Spy  Battalion,"  a  unique  body  of 
men  privileged  to  ''draw  rations  as  often  as  they 
pleased."  It  is  of  historic  interest  to  note  that 
Lieutenant  Robert  Anderson  mustered  in  Lincoln 
on  this  occasion  ;  almost  thirty  years  later  Anderson 
was  to  be  in  command  of  Fort  Sumter  when  fired 
upon,  awaiting  the  word  of  Lincoln  which  should 
decide  the  fate  of  the  nation. 

For  about  six  weeks  Captain  lies  and  his  bat- 
talion were  variously  engaged  in  hunting  down  the 
wily  enemy,  but  all  they  found  were  trails  and 
traces  of  the  Indians  and  frightened  women  and 
children.  The  middle  of  June  saw  the  Independ- 
ent Spy  Battalion  back  in  Dixon  and  mustered 
out.  Again,  on  June  20,  Lincoln  was  mustered 
in,  this  time  as  member  of  a  company  under 
Captain  Jacob  M.  Early. 

Black  Hawk  was  now  at  his  worst.  Early's 
company,  with  a  brigade,  was  sent  northwest  in 
pursuit  of  the  ravaging  redmen.  On  this  expedi- 
tion Lincoln  came  nearest  to  real  conflict,  his 
company  arriving  at  a  place  immediately  after 
the  massacre  of  a  handful  of  settlers.  An  actual 
fray  he  did  not  experience,  but  he  saw  hard  service. 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Rejoining  the  main  army  after  their  scouting, 
Lincohi  with  his  companions-at-arms  had  arduous 
reconnoitering  to  perform,  through  swamps  and 
thick  forests,  in  what  was  then  known  as  Michigan 
Territory.  Exhausted,  out  of  provisions,  the  men 
of  Early's  command  were  disbanded  on  July  lo, 
three  weeks  before  the  Battle  of  Bad  Axe,  which 
ended  the  sorry  "war"  with  almost  complete 
annihilation  of  the  foolish  Sacs. 

Out  of  the  ranks,  Lincoln  found  himself  in  the 
town  of  Whitewater,  IMichigan  Territory,  more 
than  two  hundred  miles  from  home.  The  horse 
that  he  had  acquired  as  a  member  of  the  Spy 
Battalion  was  stolen  the  night  before  the  start 
was  made  for  New  Salem.  From  Whitewater  to 
Peoria  was  a  long  trek,  but  he  and  another  unlucky 
messmate  began  the  journey  afoot.  Now  and 
then  they  were  given  a  Hft.  At  Peoria,  Abe  and 
his  friend  bought  a  canoe,  paddled  to  a  town 
called  Havana,  and  thence  walked  home. 

Lincoln  arrived  at  New  Salem  about  ten  days 
before  election,  in  August.  He  plunged  into  the 
poHtical  campaign  with  zest.  Little  as  was  the 
time  left  him,  he  made  the  most  of  it,  and  from 
box-top  and  wagon-end  deUvered  speeches  to  the 
men  of  Sangamon  County,  declaring  himself  a 
stanch  Whig.     This  required  courage  in  the  face 


LINCOLN  AS  A  SOLDIER  59 

of  the  fact  that  the  region  was  thoroughly  Demo- 
cratic. 

At  a  village  named  Pappsville  there  started  a 
free-for-all  light  in  the  midst  of  a  speech.  From 
his  platform  Lincoln  noted  that  one  of  his  sup- 
porters was  being  badly  pommeled,  so  he  promptly 
jumped  down  into  the  fracas.  One  who  witnessed 
Abe's  headway  in  the  melee  vowed  that  he  threw 
an  enemy  fully  ten,  and  perhaps  fifteen,  feet  away. 
Having  displayed  his  muscle  to  the  chagrin  of  his 
foe,  Abe  again  mounted  the  speaker's  stand  and 
wound  up  his  address  in  the  following  picturesque 
fashion :  — 

"Fellow-citizens:  I  presume  you  all  know  who 
I  am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have 
been  solicited  by  my  many  friends  to  become  a 
candidate  for  the  legislature.  My  poUtics  are 
short  and  sweet,  like  the  old  woman's  dance.  I 
am  in  favor  of  the  internal  improvement  system 
and  a  high  protective  tarifT.  These  are  my  senti- 
ments and  poHtical  principles.  If  elected,  I  shall 
be  thankful;   if  not,  it  will  be  all  the  same." 

August  6  was  Election  Day.  Lincoln  was  de- 
feated for  ofTice  —  the  only  time  in  his  career  he 
suffered  defeat  on  a  direct  vote  of  the  people. 
There  was  consolation,  however,  in  knowing  that 
out  of  eight  unsuccessful  candidates,  five  received 


6o  ABRAHAJVI  LINCOLN 

fewer  votes  than  himself.  As  for  his  own  precinct, 
he  made  a  clean  sweep,  all  but  seven  out  of  two 
hundred  and  eighty-four  votes  being  cast  for  him ; 
and  this  was  no  mean  triumph  for  a  comparative 
stranger  in  a  Democratic  community. 

PoHtical  defeat  left  him  pretty  well  stranded. 
What  would  he  do  for  a  Hving?  Some  one  sug- 
gested that  he  become  a  blacksmith,  and  he 
seriously  debated  the  idea  with  himself.  But  his 
mind  turned  instinctively  to  occupation  in  a  store, 
and  there  were  no  less  than  four  of  them  in  New 
Salem;  but,  alas,  they  needed  customers  more 
than  clerks. 

Extraordinary  as  it  may  seem,  in  the  face  of  his 
problems  and  his  poverty,  Lincoln  resolved  to 
buy  a  store  as  the  way  out  of  his  troubles! 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Storekeeper  and  Surveyor 

Two  brothers  by  the  name  of  Herndon  kept  one 
of  the  ''  general  stores  "  in  New  Salem.  One  sold 
out  his  interest  to  a  fellow-townsman,  William 
Berry,  and  the  other  brother  followed  his  example, 
making  over  his  share  of  the  business  to  Abe  Lin- 
coln. Not  a  cent  of  real  money  was  needed  in 
the  deal,  a  promissory  note  being  all  that  was  re- 
quired. And  in  the  same  manner  the  new  firm  of 
Lincoln  &  Berry  acquired  the  stock  and  good 
will  of  two  other  New  Salem  storekeepers.  Busi- 
ness methods  were  extremely  free  and  easy  in 
those  days. 

Even  the  feat  of  combining  the  three  stores  into 
one  did  not  bring  prosperity  to  the  young  mer- 
chants. Trade  was  dull.  Lincoln,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, gave  himself  up  to  the  joys  of  reading  and 
study.  Stray  customers  would  find  him,  book  in 
hand,  stretched  out  beneath  a  tree,  moving  his 
body  around  with  the  shifting  of  the  shade  ;  some- 
times his  long  legs  were  up  the  trunk  of  the  tree. 

6i 


62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Or,  he  would  be  discovered  sprawled  on  the  store 
counter,  absorbed  in  a  volume.  Less  intellectual 
and  ambitious,  Berry,  the  senior  partner,  devoted 
his  time  to  drinking  their  wet  goods,  always  an 
important  item  of  the  grocer's  stock  in  the  pioneer 
period.  The  best  thing  that  the  store  brought 
Lincoln  came  in  an  old  barrel,  and  he  related  the 
incident  as  follows  :  — 

^'One  day  a  man  who  was  migrating  to  the  West 
drove  up  in  front  of  my  store  with  a  wagon  which 
contained  his  family  and  household  plunder.  He 
asked  me  if  I  would  buy  an  old  barrel  for  which 
he  had  no  room  in  his  wagon,  and  v/hich  he  said 
contained  nothing  of  special  value.  I  did  not 
want  it,  but  to  oblige  him  I  bought  it,  and  paid 
him,  I  think,  half  a  dollar  for  it.  Without  further 
examination  I  put  it  away  in  the  store,  and  forgot 
all  about  it.  Some  time  after,  in  overhauHng 
things,  I  came  upon  the  barrel,  and  emptying  it 
upon  the  floor  to  see  what  it  contained,  I  found 
at  the  bottom  of  the  rubbish  a  complete  edition 
of  Blackstone's '  Commentaries.'  I  began  to  read 
those  famous  works,  and  I  had  plenty  of  time ;  for 
during  the  long  summer  days,  when  the  farmers 
were  busy  with  their  crops,  my  customers  were 
few  and  far  between.  The  more  I  read  the  more 
intensely    interested    I    became.     Never    in    my 


STOREKEEPER  AND  SURVEYOR     63 

whole  life  was  my  mind  so  thoroughly  absorbed. 
I  read  until  I  devoured  them." 

These  law  classics  were  literally  his  constant  com- 
panions, and  even  in  company  he  had  one  of  them 
ready  for  a  few  minutes'  communion  in  case  the 
talk  grew  tiresome.  At  odd  intervals  Abe  would 
leave  the  store  to  work  for  some  one  needing  help. 
It  is  told  that  upon  one  of  these  occasions  the 
farmer  who  had  employed  him  found  Abe  sitting 
on  top  of  a  woodpile  with  his  nose  buried  in  a  book. 

*' What's  that  you're  readin'?"  asked  the  as- 
tounded  man. 

''I'm  not  reading,"  Abe  replied,  ''I'm  study- 
ing." 

"Studyin'  what?"  persisted  the  farmer,  still 
more  amazed. 

"Law,  sir,"  came  the  cool  rejoinder. 

The  farmer  expressed  his  astonishment  in  strong 
language,  and  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  soon 
sought  a  less  studious  helper ! 

It  was  in  these  days,  too,  that  Lincoln  first  came 
to  know  aught  of  the  bard  Shakespeare,  and  the 
Scotch  poet.  Burns.  A  town  "  character,"  Jack 
Kelso,  was  given  to  declaiming  passages  from  these 
authors,  as  he  performed  sundry  jobs  or  fished  in 
the  Sangamon.  Abe  grew  fond  of  listening  to 
Kelso,  and  frequented  his  society. 


64  ABRiVHAM  LINCOLN 

On  May  7,  1833,  Abe  Lincoln  was  appointed 
postmaster  of  New  Salem,  an  office  too  insignifi- 
cant for  any  Democratic  jealousy.  Abe  entered 
upon  his  duties  with  zest,  for  among  his  privileges 
was  that  of  opening  and  reading  all  newspapers 
passing  through  the  mail.  To  him,  this  alone  was 
sufficient  payment.  Letters  were  few,  the  postal 
rates  being  beyond  the  ordinary  purse,  and  the 
dehvery  of  mail  being  slow  and  uncertain.  It  has 
been  said  that  Lincoln  kept  the  New  Salem  post 
office  in  his  hat ;  he  used  to  carry  letters  about 
in  that  fashion,  at  any  rate,  and  meeting  an  ac- 
quaintance would  often  doff  his  hat  and  hand  over 
mail.  Indeed,  keeping  things  in  his  hat  became, 
in  time,  a  habit  pecuHar  to  Abe,  and  later  on  in 
life  he  stowed  memoranda  in  this  unusual  recep- 
tacle, to  the  despair  of  his  associates. 

In  connection  wdth  his  office  of  postmaster,  a 
story  is  related  that  illustrates  the  almost  fanatic 
honesty  of  his  nature.  Years  after  he  had  given 
up  the  office,  an  agent  of  the  Federal  government 
called  on  him  for  an  accounting  of  some  seventeen 
dollars  that  had  never  been  turned  in.  At  this 
request,  Abe  rose  from  his  chair,  went  over  to  a 
little  trunk,  and  poking  around  in  it  at  last  lifted 
out  what  looked  Hke  an  old  blue  sock.  It  con- 
tained the  government  money  to  a  penny.    With 


STOREKEEPER  AND  SURVEYOR-    65 

a  whimsical  smile  he  handed  it  over,  and  said  to 
the  puzzled  official,  — 

*'I  never  use  any  man's  money  but  my  own." 

He  had  kept  the  money  untouched  through  years 
of  scrimping  and  penury. 

During  the  summer  of  1833  the  Lincoln-Berry 
estabhshment  slumped  more  and  more,  and  Abe 
let  it  be  known  that  he  was  willing  to  take  any 
sort  of  work  within  his  abihty.  Now,  at  last, 
Dame  Fortune  seemed  to  smile  by  sending  an 
opportunity  his  way,  in  which  he  might  assist  the 
county  surveyor,  John  Calhoun,  who  was  fairly 
swamped  by  orders  and  petitions  to  lay  out  towns, 
map  roads,  and  plot  farms. 

Everybody  was  speculating  in  land.  A  boom 
was  in  full  swing.  Calhoun  needed  a  helper  the 
worst  way.  Hearing  of  the  talents  of  Lincoln,  he 
decided  that  the  merchant-postmaster  was  just 
the  sort  of  man  he  wanted,  provided  he  could 
master  the  requisite  knowledge  for  surveying. 
Through  a  friend.  Pollard  Simmons,  he  sent  word 
to  Lincoln.  It  was  late  autumn.  Simmons  found 
Abe  in  the  woods  sphtting  rails,  one  of  his  most 
familiar  tasks.  The  glad  prospect  was  laid  before 
Abe,  but  he  had  some  suspicion  of  the  offer  inas- 
much as  Calhoun  was  a  dyed-in-the-wool  Demo- 
crat, while  Lincoln  himself  was  just  as  ardent  a 


66  ABRAIL\M  LINCOLN 

Whig.  Not  until  he  was  convinced  that  all  was 
aboveboard  —  that  he  would  not  have  to  change 
his  political  faith  —  did  Abe  agree  to  entertain 
the  proposition. 

That  he  knew  nothing  at  all  of  surveying  failed 
to  daunt  him.  Calhoun  told  him  the  principal 
things  he  ought  to  study  and  lent  him  a  book  that 
would  give  him  the  necessary  rudiments  of  the 
science.  Day  and  night  Abe  applied  himself, 
and  in  moments  of  perplexity  sought  his  old  friend, 
Schoolmaster  Graham,  to  unravel  a  knotty  prob- 
lem. So  intense  and  unremitting  was  his  con- 
centration that  friends  began  to  comment  upon  his 
haggard  appearance.  His  health  w^as  faihng,  they 
thought.  However,  in  sLx  weeks  he  had  mastered 
the  subject  sufficiently  to  report  for  work,  to  the 
astonishment  of  Calhoun,  He  was  sent  to  the 
northwest  section  of  the  county,  extant  records 
shomng  him  to  have  been  busy  there  in  January, 
1834.  Tradition  has  it  that  at  first,  being  too  poor 
to  buy  a  surveyor's  chain,  he  used  a  long, 
straightened  grape\dne  with  which  to  measure 
distances.  Whether  with  grapevine  or  regular 
chain,  Lincoln's  surveys  were  famed  for  their 
accuracy.     His   salary  was   three   dollars   a   day. 

Even  with  this  success  he  could  not  get  very 
much   ahead   financially,    the   store   acting   as   a 


STOREKEEPER  AND  SURVEYOR     67 

millstone  around  his  neck.  Left  to  the  mercy  of 
Berry,  the  grocery-tavern  went  from  bad  to  worse. 
Early  in  1834  two  brothers,  Alexander  and  Wil- 
liam Trent,  offered  to  take  over  the  store.  A  dicker 
was  made.  As  was  usual,  the  Trents  gave  prom- 
issory notes.  But  even  by  so  shadowy  a  contract, 
Lincoln  and  Berry  were  vastly  reheved. 

Their  relief  was  short-lived.  When  the  business 
continued  to  lag  and  creditors  grew  impatient,  the 
Trent  brothers  promptly  disappeared,  jumped 
the  county,  leaving  Lincoln  and  Berry  to  face  the 
music !  To  make  matters  worse.  Berry  reached 
the  end  of  his  dissipations  by  suddenly  dying.  On 
Abe  fell  the  full  weight  of  debt,  and  he  shouldered 
the  burden  without  even  a  whimper.  It  was  a 
common  practice  in  those  days  to  "clear  out'* 
before  such  a  fate  overtook  you.  Denton  OiTutt 
had  done  so,  the  Trents  did  likewise.  But  Abe's 
code  of  honor  was  different  from  theirs,  and  he 
assumed  all  responsibilities. 

''That  debt,"  he  subsequently  confessed,  "was 
the  greatest  obstacle  I  have  ever  met  in  my  hfe ; 
I  had  no  way  of  speculating,  and  could  not  earn 
money  except  by  labor,  and  to  earn  by  labor  eleven 
hundred  dollars,  besides  my  Hving,  seemed  the 
work  of  a  lifetime.  There  was,  however,  but  one 
way.     I  went  to  the  creditors,  and  told  them  that 


6S  ABR.\HAM  LINCOLN 

if  they  would  let  me  alone,  I  would  give  them  all 
I  could  earn  over  my  living,  as  fast  as  I  could 
earn  it." 

Clearing  himself  proved  a  difficult  and  slow  pro- 
cess, and  for  fifteen  years  he  was  paying  what  he 
quaintly  called  "the  national  debt."  And  there 
was  only  one  instance  of  an  impatient  creditor. 
This  was  a  man  who  sued  him,  and  Lincoln's 
horse,  saddle,  and  bridle,  together  with  his  sur- 
veying instruments,  were  seized  and  sold.  Always 
rich  in  friends,  one  of  them  now  came  forward, 
bought  the  surveyor's  trappings,  and  returned  them 
to  him.  Pleasant  to  record,  some  thirty  years  later, 
when  President,  Lincoln  remembered  this  kindness 
of  his  benefactor,  then  in  hard  straits,  by  appoint- 
ing him  an  Indian  agent,  thereby  saving  him  from 
the  poorhouse. 

Through  all  his  cares  and  struggles,  Abe  made 
and  kept  friends.  He  was  magnetic,  sympathetic, 
and  alert  to  help  any  one  in  distress.  As  post- 
master, he  shared  the  joys  and  woes  of  the  various 
famihes  he  served.  As  a  surveyor,  traveHng  to 
distant  points,  he  brought  news  and  cheer  to  lonely 
lives.  If  a  widow  needed  a  strong  arm  to  chop 
wood,  or  a  little  help  with  her  harvest,  it  was  Abe 
Lincoln  who  offered  himself.  If  a  browbeaten 
fellow  needed  a  champion,  Lincoln  stood  ready.    If 


STOREKEEPER  AND  SURVEYOR     69 

the  inn  at  which  he  stopped  was  overcrowded, 
Abe  gave  up  his  bed  and  went  to  sleep  on  the 
counter  of  his  store,  his  pillow  a  web  of  calico. 
Indeed,  he  was  known  to  rock  a  cradle  for  a  harassed 
housewife  while  she  prepared  supper. 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  Heavy  Blow 

After  his  store  had  '^winked  out/'  to  use  his 
own  expression,  Abe  felt  freer  to  pursue  his  sur- 
veying, his  post-office  duties,  and  his  reading  of 
Blackstone.  Most  important,  though,  was  his 
determination  to  run  for  the  legislature  in  the 
forthcoming  election  of  August,  1834.  Spring 
and  summer  were  spent  in  canvassing.  The  usual 
speeches  were  demanded  as  a  matter  of  course, 
but  the  campaign  was  more  of  a  hand-shaking 
ceremony  than  anything  else.  Supporters  were 
often  gained  by  physical  exhibition.  Men  ad- 
mired a  candidate  with  muscle  and  nerve.  So  it 
became  Lincoln's  task  to  lift  weights,  wrestle  and 
throw  som.e  husky  backwoodsman,  or  to  show  the 
farmers  how  much  grain  he  could  cut  at  a  stroke. 
Once,  to  please  a  crowd,  he  Hfted,  by  means  of  a 
harness  fitted  to  his  body,  a  box  of  stones  weighing 
a  thousand  pounds  or  more. 

Suffice  it  to  say,  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  legis- 
lature.    The    four    successful    candidates    were: 

70 


A  HEAVY  BLOW  71 

Dawson  (1390  votes) ;  Lincoln  (1376  votes) ; 
Carpenter  (1170  votes);  and  Stuart  (1164  votes). 
The  last  mentioned  was  Major  John  T.  Stuart,  a 
briUiant,  rising  young  lawyer  of  Springfield,  with 
whom  Lincoln  had  become  friendly  during  the 
days  in  the  Spy  Battalion,  when  both  hunted  the 
elusive  Black  Hawk.  Major  Stuart  had  en- 
couraged Lincoln  to  enter  the  race  for  the  legis- 
lature, and,  furthermore,  urged  him  to  apply  all 
his  energies  to  the  study  of  law,  and  lent  him  books 
to  that  end.  Several  New  Salemites  have  left  us 
their  recollections  of  the  tall  student  plodding  back 
and  forth  between  their  town  and  Springfield,  a 
distance  of  twenty  miles,  the  books  he  had  borrowed 
from  Major  Stuart  open  in  his  hands,  his  lips 
muttering  passages  he  wished  to  retain. 

Soon  the  ungainly  plodder  was  able  to  accommo- 
date the  natives  when  they  desired  deeds,  contracts, 
or  other  legal  papers  drawn.  Now  and  then  he 
was  called  upon  to  act  as  a  kind  of  amateur  advo- 
cate for  some  litigant  before  the  village  squire, 
a  certain  Mr.  Bowling  Green,  a  man  who  highly 
esteemed  the  young  law  aspirant. 

On  December  i,  1834,  the  session  of  the  legis- 
lature was  called,  and  Lincoln  was  due  at  the  capi- 
tal of  the  state,  a  town  called  Vandalia.  Despite 
his  surveying  jobs  and  the  post  ojQ&ce  pittance, 


.\BR.\H.\M  LIN'COLX 


Abe  discovered  to  his  dismay  that  he  had  no 
monej*  to  clothe  himseK  suitably.  Another  debt 
was  contracted.  He  borrowed  two  hundred  dollars 
from  Coleman  Smoot,  an  admiring  friend,  which 
sum  was  dxily  paid  back.  Vandalia  was  about 
seventy-five  miles  southeast  of  New  Salem,  and 
dad  in  fine  raiment  and  new  dignity,  Lincoln  set 
out  to  assume  a  role  in  government.  Part  of 
the  way  he  rode,  most  of  it  he  walked. 

The  capital  had  a  population  of  eight  hundred 
souls,  a  far  larger  center  than  Lincoln  had  ever 
lived  in.  There  was  a  brick  courthouse,  three 
taverns,  a  land  omce,  and  two  newspapers.  Among 
the  inhabitants  were  lawyers,  physicians,  and  a 
nimaber  of  eminent  Illinois  politicians.  The  court- 
house had  square  pillars  and  a  beHr>-.  Its  furnish- 
ings were  plain  wooden  desks  and  benches.  The 
men  who  met  there  to  make  lavr?  were  for  the  most 
part  plain  in  dress  and  speech.  Jean  suits,  one  of 
which  Lincoln  wore,  were  in  the  majority.  Three 
dollars  a  day  was  the  salar}^  paid  the  representa- 
tives. 

During  this  nrst  winter  of  legislative  Hfe,  little 
was  done  by  Lincoln  save  to  get  acquainted  with 
his  associates.  Among  them  was  one  destined  to 
I^y  a  big  part  in  the  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln ; 
this  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  a  youth  four  years 


A  HEA\-Y  BLOW  73 

the  junior  of  Lincoln,  who  had  left  his  native  state 
of  Vermont  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  growing 
West.  When  Lincoln  met  him,  Douglas  was  a 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  office  of  State  Attor- 
ney for  the  first  judicial  district  of  Illinois.  He  was 
short  and  slim,  which  led  Lincoln  to  declare  that 
Douglas  was  "the  least  man''  he  ever  saw. 

This  Ninth  Assembly  undertook  vast  projects ;  it 
chartered  a  new  State  Bank,  re\*ived  another,  and 
voted  to  authorize  a  loan  of  half  a  million  dollars 
tx>  complete  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  which 
had  been  begun.  The  state  was  booming.  ever\*- 
body  said,  therefore  her  credit  was  good  enou^ 
to  warrant  such  expense.  Eastern  capital  was 
counted  on.  With  his  fellow-legislators,  Lincoln 
favored  these  extravagant  measures,  and  Illinois 
entered  a  period  of  finann'a]  juggling  that  was 
almost  to  ruin  it. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1S35  0^^  y^cw  Sakm  states- 
man returned  home  to  resimie  his  sur\'e>ing.  his 
study  of  law.  and  the  post-office  duties.  But  upper- 
most in  his  mind  was  quite  another  matter.  He  had 
fallen  in  love  with  sweet  Ann  Rutledge,  a  Xew 
Salem  belle,  and  intended  asking  her  to  be  his  wife. 
Between  his  sur\'e>'ing  commissions  and  his  pros- 
pects in  politics  and  law,  Lincoln  felt  that  he  was  in 
a  position  to  ask  the  girl  of  his  heart  to  share  his  lot. 


74  ABRAHAJVI  LINCOLN 

The  Rutledges  were  of  the  South  Carolina  family 
and  had  a  proud  ancestry.  James  Rutledge,  the 
father  of  Ann,  was  a  founder  of  New  Salem ;  also, 
he  kept  the  tavern  at  which  Lincoln  for  a  time 
lived.  There  Ann  and  Abe  had  been  thrown  much 
in  each  other's  company,  and  evidently  the  young 
man  interested  the  girl  in  the  study  of  EngKsh, 
for  on  the  flyleaf  of  Kirkham's  Grammar,  in 
Lincoln's  handwriting,  is  inscribed,  "Ann  M. 
Rutledge  is  now  studying  grammar." 

But  when  Lincoln  became  acquainted  with  Ann 
she  was  engaged  to  another,  one  calHng  himself 
John  McNeill,  from  New  York.  He  was  a  success- 
ful merchant  and  owned  a  farm  in  the  region.  He 
had  wanted  to  marry  Ann  when  she  was  only 
seventeen,  but  her  parents  persuaded  the  young 
people  to  wait.  At  this  stage  of  affairs  McNeill 
grew  restless.  In  confidence  he  told  Ann  that  he 
was  going  back  east  for  his  mother  and  father  and 
would  return.  Then  he  told  her  a  great  secret  — 
he  had  been  Hving  under  an  assumed  name,  for 
he  was  really  John  McNamar.  When  he  had  left 
New  Salem,  Ann  brooded  over  his  revelations,  and 
when  his  letters  became  less  frequent  and  finally 
stopped  altogether,  she  doubted  her  absent  lover. 
Learning  the  circumstances,  her  mother  and 
father  and  friends  denounced  McNamar. 


A  HEAVY  BLOW  75 

Lincoln's  heart  went  out  to  Ann  in  her  grief. 
Being  held  free  of  any  vow  to  the  runaway 
McNamar,  Abe  told  the  girl  of  his  own  love,  but 
she  was  silent,  still  thinking  that  the  absent  lover 
might  be  loyal.  At  length  she  yielded  so  far  as 
to  promise  a  decision  when  Abe  should  come  back 
from  Vandalia. 

McNamar  had  been  away  a  whole  year  now. 
Upon  his  return  to  New  Salem  from  the  capital 
Abe  sought  Ann  and  renewed  his  suit.  She 
consented  to  become  his  \^afe  in  the  following 
spring.  Meanwhile,  she  would  attend  an  academy 
to  make  herself  fit  to  be  the  wife  of  a  lawmaker, 
and  Lincoln  would  fit  himself  for  admission  to  the 
Illinois  bar. 

Whether  from  secret  grief  and  worry  over  the 
vanished  McNamar  or  because  of  her  delicate 
constitution,  Ann  faded  day  by  day  Hke  a  plucked 
flower,  and  died  on  August  25,  1835.  Her  death 
had  a  terrible  effect  on  the  mind  of  Lincoln.  That 
singular  streak  of  melancholy  in  his  nature 
threatened  to  upset  his  reason.  He  avoided  his 
friends  for  the  most  part  and  preferred  the  com- 
panionship of  the  river  and  woods.  Finally,  the 
good  old  squire,  Bowling  Green,  fearing  that  his 
favorite  would  go  crazy,  induced  Abe  to  leave  the 
tragic  scene  and  spend  a  few  weeks  at  his  home 


76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

outside  of  New  Salem.  Here  Abe  regained  his 
wonted  composure,  though  many  of  his  friends 
declared  that  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge  left  an 
indelible  stamp  of  sadness  on  his  face  and  in  his 
heart.  And  according  to  tradition,  it  was  from 
this  event  that  sprang  Lincoln's  extraordinary 
fondness  for  melancholy  poetry,  especially  the 
verses,  ''Oh,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be 
proud  I "  to  which  his  preference  has  given  endur- 
ing fame. 


CHAPTER  X 

LiNXOLN  AS  Legislator 

Back  to  Vandalia  Lincoln  went  in  December  to 
attend  an  extra  session  of  the  legislature  which 
was  called  to  consider  increase  of  members. 
Growth  of  population  in  Illinois  was  held  to  war- 
rant the  addition  of  fifty  members.  After  this 
question  and  the  all-absorbing  one  of  internal  im- 
provements, the  rise  of  the  convention  system  was 
bitterly  argued.  Hitherto,  a  candidate  had  simply 
to  announce  himself  for  whatever  office  he  fancied 
and  conduct  his  campaign  independently.  Now, 
however,  the  Democrats  were  introducing  the 
party  "machine  "  ;  that  is,  the  organization  choos- 
ing its  candidates  and  uniting  upon  them.  The 
Whigs  denounced  the  convention  system  as  a 
Yankee  ''contraption''  directed  against  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people.  But  eventually  the  WTiigs 
came  to  accept  the  new  order. 

Following  the  old  method,  Lincoln,  in  June,  1S36, 
announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  Tenth 
Assembly,   his   ''platform"   being  presented   in   a 

77 


78  abr-\k\:m  linxoln 

letter  to  the  Sangamon  Journal.  Part  of  his  dec- 
laration was  as  follows  :  — 

''I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  govern- 
ment who  assist  in  bearing  its  burdens.  Conse- 
quently, I  go  for  admitting  all  whites  to  the  right 
of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or  bear  arms  (by  no 
means  excluding  females). 

"If  elected,  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of 
Sangamon  my  constituents,  as  well  those  that  op- 
pose as  those  that  support  me." 

Personal  abuse  and  unusual  excitement  flavored 
the  campaign  of  1836.  Sangamon  County  had  been 
allotted  nine  members  —  seven  representatives 
and  two  senators  —  in  the  reapportionment  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  pre\dous  December ;  and 
the  fever  of  the  poKtical  race  appeared  to  increase 
in  proportion.  One  of  Lincoln's  first  acts  in  his 
canvass  was  to  refute  a  newspaper  attack,  made 
by  a  rival  who  insinuated  that  if  the  truth  were 
known  about  Lincoln,  no  decent  citizen  would  vote 
for  him.  Abe  wrote  a  public  letter  to  his  slanderer, 
imploring  him  to  reveal  the  blasting  truth.  The 
letter  never  was  answered. 

Not  always  were  attacks  made  under  cover. 
Face  to  face  on  the  platform,  candidates  frequently 
belabored  each  other  with  words  and  even  blows. 
One  day  Lincoln  had  made  an  effective  speech  to  an 


LtSXOLN  AS  LEGISL.\TOR  79 

enthusiastic  crowd.     In  the  audience,  howe^'a",  was 
a  man  named  George  Fore uer  who.  ha\iiig  a  repu- 
tation for  sarcastic  ek-q^e-ce,  took  it  iqxMi  hmi- 
self  to  put  the  "smart*'  ycu^  fellow  in  his  proper 
place.     Forquer,  it  may  be  said,  was  a  rmcgMie 
\Miig,  and  had  gone  over  to  the  of^xisite  caznp 
because  it  gave  him  the  lacratrv'e  posatioa  ol  Regis- 
ter of  the  Land  Office.    Incidentally.  Fofqocr  L^  i 
pat  on  his  house  the  aaiy  Kghtning  rod  iz   lie 
coant\*.    After  this  gentleman  had  taken  the  ' 
form  and  done  Lincoln  to  a  torn,  as  he  th:  _     :. 
Abe  again  faced  the  andience  and  made  F : 
a  laughingstock,  crowning  his   reply  witl 
words :  — 

''The  gentleman  commenced  his  speech  by  say- 
ing that  this  young  man  [Lincoln]  would  ha^e  to 
be  taken  down,  and  he  was  sony*  the  task  devohred 
upon  him.  I  am  not  so  yoimg  in  years  as  I  am  in 
the  tricks  and  trade  of  a  politician;  bat  five  kii: 
or  die  yoong,  I  woold  rather  die  now  than,  Qtp  " "  e 
gentleman,  change  my  politics  and  -*—:'"  - 
with  the  change,  receive  an  office 
thousand  dc^lars  a  year,  and  then  ha\'e  to  erect  a 
lightning  rod  over  my  house  to  protect  a  gaihy 
miwfifnrr  bam  an  offended  God  V* 

It  won  the  crowd,  and  Lincot  -        wL  of 

the  courthouse  iqxm  the  sh  ul  ---J^o^tnH 


8o  ABR.\HA:M  LINCOLN 

friends.  That  happy  allusion  to  the  lightning  rod 
went  from  mouth  to  mouth.  The  dullest  settler 
could  appreciate  its  point. 

Election  was  in  August,  and  the  nine  men  chosen 
to  represent  Sangamon  County  in  the  legislature 
became  famous  in  the  history  of  Illinois.  Lincoln, 
of  course,  was  one  of  them.  Each  of  the  men  was 
six  feet  or  more  in  height,  their  combined  stature 
being  fifty-five  feet.  Hence,  they  were  promptly 
nicknamed  ''The  Long  Nine." 

Lincoln  journeyed  to  Springfield  in  early  Septem- 
ber and  sought  admission  to  the  bar,  and  in  October 
he  made  his  first  appearance  in  court.  But  there 
were  more  calls  for  the  surveyor  than  the  lawyer. 
The  wave  of  internal  improvements  brought  him 
plenty  of  commissions.  Many  were  his  chances 
to  speculate  in  land,  as  every  one  else  appeared  to 
be  doing,  but  he  gave  no  heed  to  the  lure  of  get-rich- 
quick  voices.  Lincoln  was  unlike  another  surveyor 
who  had  grown  rich  on  "  inside  information,"  and 
to  whom  he  remarked,  "I  am  told,  sir,  you  are 
monarch  of  all  you  suroeyf^^ 

The  Tenth  Assembly  claimed  his  time  in  Decem- 
ber, 1836.  It  was  a  gathering  of  notable  men, 
many  of  them  destined  to  fill  distinguished  roles 
in  the  future  government  of  the  country.  At 
that  time,  however,  all  were  concerned  with  the 


LINCOLN  AS  LEGISLATOR  8 1 

immediate  prospects  of  Illinois.  Railroads,  canals, 
and  river  improvements  were  voted  for  with  lavish 
hand.  Twelve  million  dollars  were  appropriated 
to  meet  expenses,  and  a  commission  was  appointed 
to  sell  bonds  of  the  state,  to  finance  these  gigantic 
schemes.  All  over  the  United  States  the  same  mad- 
ness prevailed.  Reaction  was  to  follow  in  a  terrible 
panic. 

Sharing  in  the  general  enthusiasm  for  spending 
money  before  it  was  in  hand,  Lincoln  regularly 
voted  in  favor  of  all  ''improvements."  But  his 
particular  task  was  to  secure  the  removal  of  the 
capital  to  Springfield.  Vandalia  was  considered 
too  far  away  from  the  real  center  of  growing  popu- 
lation. Many  towns  desired  to  be  chosen  the  new 
capital,  and  jealously  fought  for  the  honor,  but 
the  ''Long  Nine  of  Sangamon"  counted  on  Lincoln 
to  have  Springfield  awarded  the  prize.  Their 
faith  was  not  misplaced.  Lincoln  won  out,  though 
it  brought  down  a  storm  of  criticism  and  censure 
upon  him  and  the  Long  Nine.  To  this  abuse 
Lincoln  replied,  using  all  his  powers  of  ridicule,  and 
his  opponents  were  glad  to  retire. 

Altogether,  Lincoln's  most  significant  act  in  the 
Tenth  Assembly  was  in  connection  with  slavery. 
Abolition  agitation  at  this  time  was  alarming  the 
South.     Slavery  was  not  forbidden  by  the  Consti- 


82  ABR.\IL\M  LINCOLN 

tution  of  the  United  States,  the  Southerners  claimed, 
and  many  Northerners  agreed  with  them,  that 
the  black  race  should  remain  chattels.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  were  thousands  in  the  North 
who  contended  that  the  "peculiar  institution,"  as 
slavery  was  poKtely  termed,  should  be  wiped  out. 
Riots  and  public  \'ioleiice  occurred  in  many  places 
because  of  this  difference  of  opinion. 

The  Tenth  Assembly,  at  Vandalia,  felt  called 
upon  to  pass  resolutions,  on  March  3,  1837,  to»the 
effect :  "That  we  highly  disapprove  of  the  formation 
of  Abolition  societies,  and  of  the  doctrines  promul- 
gated by  them.  .  .  .  That  the  right  of  property 
in  slaves  is  sacred  to  the  slave-holding  States  by 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  that  they  cannot  be 
deprived  of  that  right  without  their  consent." 

Lincoln  declined  to  support  these  sentiments 
without  modification,  and  so  he  drew  up  a  set  of 
resolutions  of  his  own,  protesting  against  the 
Assembly's  willing  acceptance  of  the  "peculiar 
institution."  There  was  only  one  other  man 
among  the  legislators  who  would  sign  the  document. 
He  was  Dan  Stone,  one  of  the  Long  Nine.  The 
vital  difference  between  the  original  resolution  and 
the  protest  penned  by  Lincoln  lay  in  the  phrase, 
"They  beHeve  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
foimded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy.' 


]] 


LINCOLN  .\S  LEGISL.\TOR  83 

Courage  of  a  high  order  was  required  for  a  young 
representative  to  express  such  bold  con\-iction,  to 
be  willing  to  go  on  public  record  as  against  the 
majority ;  but  Lincoln's  conscience  would  not  per- 
mit him  to  dodge  or  evade  an  issue.  He  had  said 
to  John  Hanks  that  he  would  hit  slaver^-  if  he  ever 
got  the  chance,  and  here  was  his  hist  blow. 

His  stand  in  this  matter  did  not  injure  him  in  the 
estimate  of  his  Jissodates.  On  the  contrary-,  at  the 
series  of  festive  political  suppers  which  were  the 
order  of  the  dav,  Lincoln  was  feted  and  toasted 
as  much  as  anybody.  Two  of  the  toasts  were, 
"Abraham  Lincoln,  one  of  Nature's  noblemen"; 
and  ''Abraham  Lincoln ;  he  has  fulnHed  the  expec- 
tations of  his  friends  and  disappointed  the  h(^)es 
of  his  enemies." 

When  that  session  of  the  Assemblv  was  over. 
Lincoln  returned  to  New  Salem  for  the  last  time,  for 
he  had  decided  to  move  to  the  new  capital,  Spring- 
field, and  launch  upon  his  law  career  in  earnest. 
Major  Stuart  had  ottered  him  partnership,  and  an- 
other friend  in\-ited  him  to  take  a  place  at  his  table 
and  eat  with  the  family  just  as  long  as  he  wanted  to. 
Lincoln,  as  may  be  imagined,  was  still  as  poor  as  a 
church  mouse,  still  burdened  with  debt,  and  casting 
his  lot  with  Major  Stuart  meant  gi^'ing  up  his  three 
dollars  a  day  as  surveyor.     Well,  he  would  risk  it. 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

His  advent  in  Springfield  illustrates  his  poverty 
with  a  smile  and  a  tear.  He  rode  into  the  town 
on  a  borrowed  horse,  his  worldly  goods  a  pair  of 
saddle-bags  and  his  whole  wardrobe  therein. 
Stopping  in  the  general  store  kept  by  Joshua  Speed, 
he  inquired  the  price  of  a  single  bed,  together  with 
mattress,  sheets,  etc.  The  merchant  figured  the 
full  cost  at  seventeen  dollars.  Cheap  enough, 
Lincoln  affirmed,  but  not  so  cheap  that  he  could 
afford  it.  He  took  Speed  into  his  confidence,  and 
asked  him  if  he  would  credit  him  until  Christmas. 
*'If  I  fail  in  this,"  he  said  sadly,  referring  to  his 
hopes  of  the  law,  ''I  don't  know  that  I  can  ever 
pay  you." 

Joshua  Speed  looked  at  the  speaker  and  thought 
that  he  had  never  seen  a  more  melancholy  face. 
His  heart  was  touched,  and  the  stranger  appealed 
to  him  in  an  irresistible  way. 

*' You  seem  to  be  so  much  pained  at  contracting 
so  small  a  debt,"  ventured  the  kindly  storekeeper, 
^'I  think  I  can  suggest  a  plan  by  which  you  can 
avoid  the  debt,  and  at  the  same  time  attain  your 
end.  I  have  a  large  room  with  a  double  bed  up- 
stairs, which  you  are  very  welcome  to  share  with 


me. 


"Where  is  your  room?"  asked  Abe,  brightening. 
''Upstairs,"  said  Speed, pointing  out  the  stairw^ay. 


LINCOLN  AS  LEGISLATOR  85 

Grasping  his  saddlebags,  Lincoln  mounted  the 
stairs,  and  threw  his  possessions  on  the  floor.  He 
came  down  to  Speed  beaming  with  pleasure. 
"Well,  Speed,"  he  exclaimed,  "I  am  moved  I" 
From  that  day  dated  the  closest  friendship  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  ever  made  with  a  man,  for 
Joshua  Speed,  generous  and  hospitable,  won  a 
place  in  the  heart  of  Abraham  Lincoln  that  makes 
his  name  beloved  to  this  day  by  all  of  us. 


CHAPTER  XI 

An  Interrupted  Courtship 

"There  is  a  great  deal  of  flourishing  about  in 
carriages  here,"  wrote  Lincohi  to  Mary  Owens  in 
1837,  after  he  had  been  settled  a  short  time  in 
Springfield.  Miss  Owens  was  another  Kentucky 
belle  in  whom  he  had  become  interested.  Though 
he  never  could  forget  Ann  Rutledge,  he  was  at- 
tracted to  the  fair  sex.  If  his  love  affair  with  Ann 
was  a  tragedy,  then  his  acquaintance  with  Mary 
Owens  might  be  termed  a  comedy.  Mary  was  well 
off  and  used  to  the  good  things  of  the  world,  and 
Abe  feared  that  his  poverty  would  never  do  for  her 
to  share.  But  after  many  odd  letters,  in  which  he 
warned  her  against  sharing  his  lot,  he  proposed 
marriage.  Gently,  firmly,  she  refused  him.  Being 
lukewarm,  to  her  he  was  "deficient  in  those  little 
links  which  make  up  the  chain  of  a  woman's  hap- 
piness." He  was  mortified  at  her  refusal,  despite 
his  half-hearted  wooing. 

Law  duties  and  "Long  Nine"  interests,  however, 
kept  him  from  brooding  over  his  foolish  courtship. 

86 


AN  INTERRUPTED    COURTSHIP  87 

Major  Stuart,  his  partner,  was  too  taken  up  with 
politics  to  pay  much  attention  to  law  practice, 
therefore  Lincoln  had  every  opportunity  to  try 
his  powers.  There  were  not  many  cases,  and  those 
that  did  come  along  amounted  to  little.  When 
they  promised  fat  fees,  Lincoln  would  refuse  to 
take  full  due,  contenting  himself  with  a  minimum 
return  for  his  services.  He  became  widely  known 
for  this  unheard-of  characteristic  among  the  legal 
fraternity,  and  the  nickname  ''Honest  Abe"  ac- 
quired new  significance. 

One  of  his  early  cases  created  a  sensation.  A 
widow  claimed  that  a  prominent  poHtician,  General 
James  Adams,  was  endeavoring  to  cheat  her  out 
of  a  parcel  of  land  by  means  of  a  forged  document. 
Lincoln  brought  the  case  to  court,  proved  the  gen- 
eral to  be  a  rascal,  and  won  for  the  widow.  The 
Sangamon  Journal  and  the  Springfield  Republican 
were  full  of  the  notorious  suit.  General  Adams 
made  a  fierce  bluster  of  denial  in  and  out  of  court, 
but  he  was  found  guilty.  Lincoln  as  victor  was 
given  flattering  pubUcity. 

Out  of  poHtics  he  could  not  keep,  and  in  1838 
again  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  As- 
sembly. The  Whigs  counted  on  him,  while  his 
Democratic  rivals  began  to  fear  his  unfailing  logic 
and  humor,  his  powerful  sincerity.     Also,  his  clever 


88  ABR.\H-\M  LTSXOLN 

handling  of  opposing  ^)eakexs  was  disconcerting, 
as  the  following  ston^  illustrates. 

Colonel  Dick  Taylor,  an  influential  Democrat, 
was  *■  stumping  it,"  as  they  sometimes  described 
the  canvassing  for  votes,  and  he  and  Lincoln  met 
one  afternoon  ia  debate.  It  was  then  the  fashion 
among  Democratic  orators  to  tell  audiences  how 
simple  and  humble  they  were  in  comparison  to  the 
Whigs.  They  prided  themselves  on  being  "plain 
folks.''  But  look  at  the  WTiigsI  these  eloquent 
sons  of  simplicity  would  exclaim.  Look  at  their 
airs  and  degance! 

Unfortunately  for  r:—.  Colonel  Taylor  was  fond 
of  arraj-ing  himself  in  princely  clothes,  wearing 
ruffled  shirts,  velvet  waistcoats,  and  conspicuous 
jeirelry.  On  the  platform,  however,  the  colonel 
was  careful  to  wear  a  long,  all-concealing  coat 
over  his  gaudy  appareL 

Meeting  Lincoln  that  memorable  day,  Taylor 
kumched  the  usual  tirade  at  the  foppery  and 
snobbexy  of  the  Whigs.  His  present  opponent 
certainly  did  not  look  the  part  in  his  shabby  jeans, 
but  the  colonel  went  on  imabashed.  Lincoln  lis- 
tened quietly.  When  it  came  his  turn  to  reply, 
he  ste{^)ed  quickly  beside  the  Democratic  apostle 
of  ruggedness  and  deftly  flung  qpen  his  envelopiug 
coat;  there  stood  the  colonel,  a  li\'ingj  glittering 


AX  EN'TERRUPTED   COURTSHIP  89 

contradiction  to  even'thing  he  had  said !  Lincohi 
need  not  have  uttered  a  word,  for  the  lesson  was 
obWous,  but  ''Honest  Abe"  permitted  himself  a 
few  trenchant  remarks. 

Next  to  his  hatred  of  shams  was  Lincoln's  love 
of  a  square  deal,  as  has  been  already  noted.  In 
this  campaign  he  indulged  in  a  spectacular  act  to 
assist  a  valued  friend  of  his.  Mr.  E.  D.  Baker.  The 
Springfield  courtroom  was  for  the  time  being  lo- 
cated under  the  offices  of  Stuart  &  Lincoln.  Heated 
arguments  were  in  progress  there  one  night  when 
the  crowd,  angered  by  something  he  had  said, 
began  roughly  pulling  Baker  from  the  platform. 
L'pstairs,  Lincoln  had  overheard  ever\-thing.  At 
this  crisis  he  opened  a  trapdoor  in  the  floor  and 
suddenly  shot  through  it  into  the  midst  of  the  riot- 
ous throng.  Lining  himself  up  with  Baker,  the 
\'isitor  from  the  ceiling  said. — 

"Hold  on.  gentlemen!  This  is  a  land  of  free 
speech." 

With  a  few  sensible  words  backed  up  by  a  fight- 
ing attitude  Lincoln  quieted  the  crowd,  and  Baker 
resumed  his  argimient. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
limelight  about  this  time.  His  rise  had  been  ex- 
traordinarily rapid,  and  now  he  was  nominated  for 
Congress  on  the  Democratic  ticket.     Major  John 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

T.  Stuart,  Lincoln's  law  partner,  was  his  Whig 
opponent.  Five  months  of  whirlwind  campaign- 
ing through  the  northern  half  of  Illinois  returned 
Stuart  to  Congress,  by  a  bare  majority  of  fourteen 
votes.  Of  course,  Douglas  was  sorely  disappointed, 
but  in  secret  cherished  the  hope  of  one  day  going 
to  Washington. 

This  election  of  1838  returned  Lincoln  to  the  leg- 
islature where,  whatever  his  work,  he  did  nothing 
of  particular  importance.  The  state  had  just 
passed  through  the  blackness  of  panic  and  hard 
times,  and  her  former  generous  representatives 
were  mourning  the  folly  of  their  sanguine,  unbal- 
anced * '  appropriations . ' ' 

Lincoln's  reputation  as  a  public  speaker  was 
growing.  As  early  as  1837  he  had  been  invited 
to  address  the  "Young  Men's  Lyceum"  of  Spring- 
field, and  had  chosen  our  poHtical  institutions  for 
his  subject.  In  December,  1839,  there  was  a  series 
of  public  discussions  in  Springfield  which  grew  out 
of  an  argument  between  Douglas  and  Lincoln. 
There  were  eight  evenings  of  debate,  four  Demo- 
crats and  four  Whigs  pitted  against  one  another, 
each  having  an  evening  to  speak,  alternately. 
Lincoln  came  last  on  the  list,  but  he  was  acclaimed 
the  best.  There  was  a  demand  for  printed  copies 
of  his  address,  in  which  he  remorselessly  picked  to 


AN  INTERRUPTED   COURTSHIP  91 

pieces  the  statements  made  by  Douglas  in  defense 
of  the  Van  Buren  administration.  It  might  be 
said  to  be  the  opening  bout  of  the  war  of  words 
that  the  two  men  were  to  wage,  off  and  on,  for  a 
period  of  twenty  years. 

The  election  of  1840  was  for  president,  and  as  one 
of  the  presidential  electors,  Lincoln  threw  himself 
earnestly  into  the  campaign  which,  perhaps,  was 
the  most  hilarious  in  our  history.  Harrison  was 
the  Whig  candidate,  and  being  a  true  son  of  the 
common  people,  an  Indian  fighter  of  fame,  his 
followers  adopted  a  humble  symbol  —  the  log 
cabin.  Monster  celebrations  were  held  throughout 
Illinois,  and  in  June  one  occurred  in  Springfield  at 
which  were  gathered  about  twenty  thousand  people. 
One  of  the  log  cabins  drawn  there  on  a  float  took 
thirty  yoke  of  oxen  to  pull  it !  Lincoln  made  a 
speech  to  the  throng,  standing  in  a  wagon,  and  his 
usual  fund  of  yarns  and  sound  sense  won  much 
laughter  and  applause. 

Welcome  as  was  Lincoln  in  political  gatherings, 
he  proved  no  less  welcome  in  the  social  circles  of 
Springfield.  Uncouth  he  might  appear,  but  he 
was  ever  entertaining  and  diverting,  especially  to 
the  men.  With  the  ladies  he  was  never  so  easy, 
felt  awkward  and  bashful,  yet  he  was  a  favorite. 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  a  proud  and  brilliant  girl  from 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Kentucky,  showed  marked  preference  for  the  so- 
ciety of  the  homely  railsplitter.  She  appeared  to 
possess  prophetic  power  in  seeing  the  young  man's 
future,  and  gave  it  as  her  opinion  that  he  would 
achieve  great  heights.  Many  of  the  finest  fellows 
in  town  paid  court  to  the  clever  and  beautiful  Ken- 
tucky girl,  among  them  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  but 
none  of  them  could  hope  to  rival  Lincoln  in  her 
interest  and  affection.  The  sequence  was  that 
some  time  in  1840  the  two  became  engaged,  and 
the  wedding  day  was  set  for  the  first  of  the  follow- 
ing January. 

But  before  that  date  Lincoln  had  come  to  the 
hsLiTowing  conclusion  that  Mary  Todd  and  he  were 
unfitted  to  each  other.  She  loved  the  gay  social 
round  and  plenty  of  attention.  He  cared  little 
or  nothing  for  the  fritterings  of  ''society,"  and  was 
often  thoughtless  of  his  fiancee's  preferences  and 
tastes.  Misunderstandings  and  quarrels  were  the 
outcome.  Lincoln  grew  miserable,  and  his  dreaded 
melancholy  moods  marked  him  for  all  to  see.  Un- 
able to  stand  the  mental  torture  longer,  he  de- 
cided that  the  best  thing  for  them  both  would  be 
separation.  Their  engagement  was  broken.  That 
did  not  mend  matters.  If  anything,  Lincoln  was 
more  morose  than  ever.  Despair  seized  him.  He 
thought  his  mind  was  weakening.     Gossip  was  agog 


AN  INTERRUPTED   COURTSHIP  93 

with  this  nine-days'  wonder.  Writing  to  his  friend 
Stuart,  he  said, 

"I  am  now  the  most  miserable  man  living.  If 
what  I  feel  were  equally  distributed  to  the  whole 
human  family,  there  would  not  be  one  cheerful  face 
on  earth." 

That  was  the  way  he  felt  in  Januar>%  after  the 
break  with  Mary  Todd,  but  the  situation  was  to 
brighten.  His  friend  Joshua  Speed,  then  removed 
to  Louisville,  invited  Lincoln  to  visit  him  in  the 
summer,  an  invitation  he  accepted.  Lincoln  could 
unbosom  himself  to  Speed,  and  found  in  him  the 
understanding  and  s}'mpathy  he  craved ;  the  un- 
happy lover  returned  to  Springfield  in  a  more 
cheerful  frame  of  mind. 

A  few  months  later  interested  friends  brought 
the  parted  sweethearts  together,  and  their  renewed 
intercourse  was  lightened  by  a  humorous  prank 
they  indulged  at  the  expense  of  a  hot-headed  Irish- 
man, James  Shields,  then  the  Democratic  auditor 
of  the  state.  Shields  was  a  notorious  dandy, 
seeking  the  admiration  of  the  ladies,  preening  him- 
self like  a  fat  pigeon  before  them.  Miss  Todd  and 
a  chum  of  hers  thought  it  would  be  a  lark  to  take 
him  down  a  peg. 

Now  taxes  had  been  forbidden  to  be  paid  in  state 
bank  notes,  to  the  anger  and  disgust  of  the  Whigs, 


94  ABRAIL\:M  LINCOLN 

and  on  this  Democratic  obliquity  the  gallant  audi- 
tor was  attacked  in  a  Springfield  paper  by  the  two 
girls  and  Lincoln,  who  signed  their  effusions  "Aunt 
Rebecca."  Written  in  racy  dialect,  "Aunt  Re- 
becca" complained  of  her  useless  bank  notes,  and 
held  the  state  auditor  up  to  ridicule.  Finally, 
after  berating  him  soundly,  the  imaginary  old 
scold  proposed  that  Shields  should  marry  her. 

The  auditor  was  furious  at  being  made  the  butt 
of  the  county.  Enraged,  he  demanded  of  the 
editor  of  the  paper  that  he  reveal  the  identity  of 
the  waspish  correspondent.  Lincoln  came  forward 
and  took  the  blame,  saving  nothing  of  the  girls, 
who  had  really  started  the  teapot  tempest.  Shields 
thereupon  wrote  Lincoln  a  letter  hotly  demanding 
instant  apolog}^  and  threatening  dire  consequences 
should  he  not  humble  himself  sufficiently.  Lincoln 
coolly  reminded  his  fire-eating  antagonist  that  he 
assumed  too  much.  At  this.  Shields  challenged 
him  to  a  duel ! 

Choice  of  weapons  was  given  Lincoln  as  the  chal- 
lenged party.  He  chose  cavalry  broadswords  of  the 
largest  size,  and  also  insisted  upon  absurd  conditions 
to  govern  the  encounter.  Auditor  Shields  was  a 
little,  pudgy  man,  and  one  can  fancy  what  chance 
he  would  have  against  the  six-foot-four  Lincoln 
brandishing  a  big  broadsword.     An  eyewitness  of 


AN  INTERRUPTED  COURTSHIP      95 

the  "duel"  recalled  that  Abe  solemnly  drew  his 
sword  from  its  scabbard,  felt  its  edge  carefully, 
then  suddenly  lopped  off  a  tree  twig  from  an  incred- 
ible height.  That  is  about  as  far  as  the  farcical 
fight  went,  for  peace-making  friends  arrived  in 
haste  to  settle  matters  without  further  flourish  of 
saber. 

Whether  this  '^  Aunt  Rebecca"  affair  and  the  Lin- 
coln-Shields duel  brought  it  about  or  not  would  be 
hard  to  say,  but  they  doubtless  played  a  good  part 
in  bringing  about  a  fresh  betrothal.  Quietly, 
without  previous  preparation  or  announcement, 
Mary  Todd  and  Abraham  Lincoln  were  married  on 
November  4,  1842,  at  the  home  of  the  bride's  uncle. 
Soon  after,  Lincoln  and  his  wife  went  to  live  at 
the  Globe  Tavern,  securing  board  at  four  dollars 
a  week,  and  there  they  continued  to  reside  until 
Lincoln  purchased  a  house  in  1844. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Congressional  Experiences 

With  his  marriage  Lincoln  was  spurred  to  greater 
endeavor.  For  eight  years  he  had  served  in  the 
Illinois  legislature  continuously,  and  it  was  about 
time  to  seek  higher  office.  His  friends,  knowing  his 
desire,  offered  to  back  him  for  governor  of  the 
state.  This  honor  he  declined.  Instead,  he  let 
it  be  known  that  he  would  like  to  be  sent  to  Wash- 
ington as  congressman.  Political  wheels  were  set 
in  motion  in  1842  to  that  end,  but  the  Sangamon 
Whigs  decided  to  make  Edward  D.  Baker  their  can- 
didate. Swallowing  his  own  disappointment,  Lin- 
coln loyally  supported  his  friend.  However,  when 
the  convention  assembled  in  May,  1843,  John  J. 
Hardin  proved  to  be  the  favorite  of  the  state's 
candidates  for  Congress.  Baker,  seeing  how  mat- 
ters lay,  rose  and  declined  the  candidacy,  making  a 
stirring  speech  to  the  convention.  Hardin  was 
thereupon  elected,  but  not  before  Lincoln  had  come 
forward  with  an  extraordinary  resolution  which 
recommended  Baker  for  the  next  term  in  Congress. 

96 


CONGRESSIONAL  EXPERIENCES  97 

Unheard  of  as  was  this  proceeding,  the  resolution 
was  carried. 

In  the  campaign  of  1844  Lincoln  was  a  presiden- 
tial elector  and  espoused  the  election  of  Henry- 
Clay  with  enthusiasm.  The  wonderfully  gifted  ora- 
tor of  Kentucky  had  been  Abe's  idol  from  child- 
hood, one  might  say,  and  so  he  pitched  headlong 
into  the  poUtical  battle  for  him,  speaking  in  Indiana 
as  well  as  Illinois.  He  revisited  the  old  scenes  of 
Gentryville  and  delivered  an  address  to  former 
neighbors  and  friends.  All  the  familiar  spots  and 
kindly  faces  aroused  deep  emotion  in  his  breast,  and 
he  afterwards  tried  to  express  his  feelings  in  a  poem. 

It  is  of  historic  moment  to  know  that  in  this  1844 
campaign  Lincoln  had  to  deal  with  the  ever  smol- 
dering fires  of  slavery.  The  question  of  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas  was  at  issue  before  the  country. 
Clay  and  the  Whigs  opposed  the  move,  arguing 
that  it  would  be  unfair  to  Mexico  and  would  tend 
to  bring  on  war  with  that  nation.  Furthermore, 
they  said,  it  would  surely  increase  territory  for  slav- 
ery, a  condition  that  the  North  especially  feared 
and  fought.  But  the  South  wanted  Texas  and 
exerted  every  effort  to  have  it  annexed.  And  the 
South  had  its  way. 

Both  Hardin  and  Baker  having  had  a  term  in 
Congress,  Lincoln  felt  it  only  his  due  in  1846,  and 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

accordingly  became  a  candidate.  His  rival  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  was  Peter  Cartwright,  an  old 
Methodist  preacher  of  renown,  whose  son  Lincoln 
was  to  save  from  the  gallows.  Lincoln  was 
elected  by  a  surprising  majority,  and  in  November, 
1847,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  National  Congress. 

Many  celebrated  men  were  in  Washington  at 
that  time,  and  Lincoln  was  most  eager  to  see  and 
meet  them.  Daniel  Webster  and  John  C.  Calhoun 
were  thundering  in  the  halls  of  state.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  there,  the  patriarch  of  the  statesmen. 
Among  others  were  James  Buchanan,  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  Andrew  Johnson,  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
and  Jefferson  Davis.  Also,  Douglas  was  in  Wash- 
ington, having  just  achieved  his  ambition  of  be- 
coming Democratic  senator  from  Illinois. 

During  his  first  weeks  in  Congress  that  winter 
Lincoln  did  little  save  take  in  everything  that  was 
said  and  done.  He  lived  quietly  at  a  small  board- 
ing house.  But,  as  usual,  he  soon  was  remarked 
for  his  quaint  mannerisms  and  witty  yarns.  Oddly 
enough,  he  appeared  to  enjoy  thoroughly  the  social 
side  of  Washington  life,  attending  balls,  breakfasts, 
and  banquets.  Bowling  was  one  of  his  favorite 
pastimes.  There  are  many  recollections  of  him  at 
this  period,  but  perhaps  more  characteristic  than 
any  is  that  in  which  Lincoln  is  described  as  carry- 


CONGRESSIONAL  EXPERIENCES  99 

ing  books  from  the  library  in  a  large  bandanna 
handkerchief,  the  bundle  slung  over  his  shoulder  at 
the  end  of  a  stick. 

The  United  States  was  at  war  with  Mexico  at 
that  time,  and  the  Whigs  were  violently  opposed 
to  it.  President  Polk  wished  that  party  to  sanc- 
tion and  second  his  declaration  of  hostility,  to 
declare  it  just  and  right.  On  December  22  Lincoln 
made  his  first  notable  speech  in  Congress,  censuring 
the  course  of  the  Administration  in  beginning  the 
war,  holding  it  both  unnecessary  and  unconstitu- 
tional. His  address  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  Spot 
Resolutions,"  inasmuch  as  most  of  his  remarks 
consisted  of  searching  comments  and  questions 
regarding  the  exact  spot  where  hostilities  had  be- 
gun, the  whole  war  hinging  on  that  point.  In 
January,  Lincoln  delivered  a  telling  defense  of  these 
"Spot  Resolutions"  in  the  face  of  overwhelming 
criticism.  His  inflexible  attitude  against  the  policy 
of  Polk  brought  down  upon  his  head  the  wrath  of 
*'war  patriots."  Even  his  home  state  frowned  at 
his  stand.  Nevertheless,  Lincoln  was  undaunted 
and  unafraid,  for  he  was  convinced  that  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  Mexican  War  was  based  on  moral 
right. 

Zachary  Taylor  won  national  admiration  and 
laudation  for  his  military  prowess  in  Mexico,  and 


lOO  ABRAHAIVI  LINCOLN 

on  this  wave  of  popularity  he  was  nominated  for 
president  in  the  summer  of  1848.  ''Old  Rough 
and  Ready,"  as  Taylor  was  called,  had  no  more 
ardent  or  eloquent  supporter  than  Abe  Lincoln 
who,  in  July,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  made  an 
ambitious  speech  praising  the  hoar>'  warrior  and 
ridiculing  his  Democratic  rival,  General  Cass. 
The  vdt  of  Lincoln's  remarks  convulsed  Congress, 
while  his  keen  arguments  struck  home  surely  and 
forcibly.  During  the  dehvery  of  this  speech  it  is 
told  of  him  that  he  marched  up  and  do^Ti  the  aisle 
of  the  House,  making  extraordinary^  gestures  and 
striking  still  more  extraordinar}-  attitudes. 

Many  invitations  were  extended  to  him  to  ad- 
dress New  England  audiences,  and  after  Congress 
adjourned  he  went  on  a  lecture  tour.  Massachu- 
setts led  in  the  demand  to  hear  him.  Expecting 
entertainment,  the  people  were  surprised  to  receive 
enHghtenment.  For  the  first  time  Lincoln  found 
himself  in  territory  largely  given  over  to  anti- 
slavery  folk,  and  he  was  impressed  at  the  earnest- 
ness and  fervor  of  their  behef.  When  confronted 
with  pubHc  inquiry  as  to  his  own  convictions, 
Lincoln  was  always  careful  to  steer  a  moderate 
course,  declaring  himself  an  enemy  to  the  extension 
of  slavery,  but  also  declaring  that  he  saw  no  way 
under  the  Constitution  to  abolish  the  institution 


CONGRESSIONAL  EXPERIENCES  loi 

peacefully.  Altogether,  the  campaign  in  these 
Northern  states  was  a  succession  of  triumphs  for 
Lincoln.  Leaving  New  England,  he  went  to  Al- 
bany, visited  Niagara  Falls,  which  fairly  awed  him, 
then  sped  homeward  to  Illinois,  where  he  continued 
to  make  speeches  for  General  Taylor,  who  was 
elected  to  the  presidency  in  November. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  the  Mexican 
War  would  be  the  acquisition  of  new  territory  for 
the  United  States,  and  the  all-absorbing  question 
before  the  nation  was,  Will  slavery  be  permitted  in 
it  ?  The  anti-slavery  element  of  the  North  sought 
to  forbid  the  spread  of  the  evil  through  a  bill 
known  as  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  The  South,  of 
course,  fought  this  restraining  measure.  Lincoln 
said  he  voted  for  the  Wilmot  Pro\dso  at  least  forty 
times  during  his  congressional  term ! 

In  the  last  half  of  his  term  Lincoln  tried  in  still 
another  fashion  to  deal  a  blow  to  slavery  by  having 
it  abolished  in  the  national  capital.  In  the  Lincoln- 
Stone  protest  of  1837  he  had  declared  it  his  belief 
that  the  people  of  Washington  had  the  right  to  for- 
bid slavery  in  their  city,  if  they  chose  to  exercise 
the  right  through  lawful  proceedings.  To  stimulate 
the  people  into  decisive  action,  Lincoln  drew  up  a 
bill  and  presented  it  to  Congress,  January  16,  1849, 
urging  the  abolishment  of  slavery  in  the  nation's 


102  ABIt\IL\:vI  LINCOLN 

capital,  "  with  the  consent  of  the  voters  of  the 
District  and  with  compensation  to  owners." 

Wliat  had  impelled  him  more  than  anything  else 
to  take  this  bold  step  was  a  filthy  slave-market 
within  \'iew  of  the  Capitol  \\dndows.  Lincoln 
described  it  as  "a  sort  of  negro  liver>^  stable,  where 
droves  of  negroes  were  collected,  temporarily  kept, 
and  finally  taken  to  Southern  markets,  precisely 
like  droves  of  horses." 

This,  perhaps  his  most  noteworthy  act  while  in 
Congress,  caused  quite  a  stir,  but  the  feeling  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  ran  too  high  for  any  such  inter- 
ference as  Lincoln  suggested,  mild  and  just  as  it 
was,  so  the  bill  died  without  ever  being  put  before 
the  House. 

Lu  March,  1849,  ^s  term  expired.  Frankly,  he 
longed  for  further  pubhc  service,  and  tried  his  best 
to  secure  the  position  of  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Ofl&ce,  gi\'ing  eleven  strong  reasons 
why  he  should  be  appointed.  Another  appHcant 
secured  the  place,  much  to  Lincoln's  chagrin. 
By  way  of  consolation  President  Taylor  offered 
him  the  governorship  of  Oregon  Territory.  But 
Mrs.  Lincoln  did  not  favor  this  and  refused  even 
to  think  of  going  so  far  out  of  the  world. 

Convinced  that  his  political  career  was  over, 
and  sighing  at  the  prospect,  Lincoln  determined 


CONGRESSIONAL  EXPERIENCES  103 

to  devote  all  his  energies  to  law.  He  refused  an 
advantageous  proposition  to  become  partner  of  a 
well-known  Chicago  lawyer,  saying  that  his  health 
would  not  withstand  the  grind  of  a  big  city  prac- 
tice, and  returned  to  Springfield. 

Reaching  home,  he  set  himself  the  task  of  acquir- 
ing more  general  education,  for  Washington  society 
had  shown  him  many  shortcomings  in  his  culture 
and  fund  of  knowledge.  Mathematics,  astronomy, 
poetry,  and  other  subjects  were  tackled  in  turn, 
and  in  his  efforts  at  acquiring  knowledge  Lincoln 
went  so  far  as  to  master  the  first  six  books  of 
Euclid  —  an  accomplishment  that  any  one  might 
envy. 

Describing  his  life  at  this  time,  a  writer  who 
knew  him  has  said  :  — 

"He  lived  simply,  comfortably,  and  respectably, 
with  neither  expensive  tastes  nor  habits.  His 
wants  were  few  and  simple.  He  occupied  a  small, 
unostentatious  house  in  Springfield,  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  entertaining,  in  a  very  simple  way, 
his  friends  and  his  brethren  of  the  bar.  .  .  .  Mrs. 
Lincoln  often  entertained  small  numbers  of  friends 
at  dinner  and  somewhat  larger  numbers  at  evening 
parties.  In  his  modest  and  simple  home  every- 
thing was  orderly  and  refined,  and  there  was 
always,  on  the  part  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln, 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

a  cordial  and  hearty  Western  welcome  which  put 
every  guest  at  ease.  Yet  it  was  the  humor,  anec- 
dote, and  unrivaled  conversation  of  the  host  which 
formed  the  chief  attraction  and  made  a  dinner  at 
Lincoln's  cottage  an  event  to  be  remembered.'' 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Riding  the  Circuit 

Up  to  now  Lincoln  had  been  pursuing  his  profes- 
sion on  and  off  for  about  thirteen  years.  Three 
partners  had  shared  labors  with  him.  Major 
Stuart  had  been  succeeded  by  General  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  who,  in  turn,  was  succeeded  by  WiUiam 
Herndon,  the  latter  some  nine  years  younger  than 
Lincoln.  During  his  four  years'  partnership  with 
Stuart,  Lincoln  had  gained  but  little  headway. 
Less  than  two  years  with  Logan,  he  learned  a  great 
deal,  though  Logan  did  not  succeed  in  making  him 
a  technical  lawyer ;  however,  he  did  teach  Lincoln 
many  points  in  legal  procedure. 

Logan  and  Lincoln  were  each  too  independent 
and  decided  in  character  to  get  along  well  together. 
Aside  from  this,  Lincoln  was  getting  only  a  small 
share  of  the  firm's  profits ;  hence  they  separated. 
There  is  a  good  story  of  how  Lincoln  later  on  took 
advantage  of  his  former  partner  in  a  suit  when  they 
were  on  opposing  sides.  Logan  was  dignified  and 
methodical,  but  he  had  one  failing  —  he  was  ex- 

los 


io6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tremely  careless  in  details  of  dress.  For  that 
matter,  so  was  Lincoln,  but  that  did  not  deter  him 
on  this  memorable  occasion  from  good-naturedly 
lampooning  his  old  friend,  who  had  just  gravely 
addressed  the  court. 

''Gentlemen,"  said  Lincoln,  addressing  the  jury, 
"you  must  be  careful  and  not  permit  yourselves  to 
be  overborne  by  the  eloquence  of  the  counsel  for  the 
defense.  Judge  Logan,  I  know,  is  an  effective  lawyer. 
I  have  met  him  too  often  to  doubt  that ;  but  shrewd 
and  careful  though  he  may  be,  still,  he  is  sometimes 
wrong.  Since  this  trial  began  I  have  discovered 
that,  with  all  his  caution  and  fastidiousness,  he 
hasn't  knowledge  enough  to  put  his  shirt  on  right ! " 

Sure  enough,  Logan  had  on  his  shirt  with  its 
bosom  to  the  back.  Discomfited,  he  grew  red  as 
fire,  while  the  court  burst  into  laughter. 

Most  of  the  practice  in  those  days  was  carried 
on  in  traveHng  about  the  country,  the  judges  and 
lawyers  going  from  county  to  county  and  holding 
court  in  various  places.  The  seasons  for  this  mov- 
able court  of  justice  were  spring  and  autumn. 
IlHnois  was  divided  into  what  was  called  judicial 
circuits.  The  particular  territory  which  Lincoln 
covered  was  known  as  the  "Eighth  Judicial  Cir- 
cuit," and  it  embraced  an  area  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  square  miles.     Railroads  there  were 


RIDING  THE  CIRCUIT  107 

none  until  1854,  and  horses  and  rigs  were  used  by 
the  legal  travelers.  Lincoln  acquired  a  horse  and 
buggy  described  as  ''ramshackle."  The  remainder 
of  his  trappings  were  an  old  carpet  bag  and  an 
ancient  umbrella  without  a  handle  and  tied  up  with 
string. 

As  the  learned  cavalcade  went  along  the  road 
it  generally  was  noisy  with  mirth  and  singing. 
Innumerable  stories  were  ''swapped."  Sometimes 
one  of  the  fraternity  performed  upon  the  jew's- 
harp.  Because  he  had  such  long  legs,  Lincoln  was 
appointed  advance  agent  to  try  the  depth  of  streams 
to  be  crossed.  Willingly  he  waded  into  the  water 
for  his  friends,  and  they  also  noted  other  kindnesses 
of  his.  For  instance,  he  once  picked  up  two  bird- 
lings  that  had  fallen  from  the  nest  and  at  great 
pains  put  them  back.  Questioned  as  to  this  quix- 
otic act,  Lincoln  confessed  that  he  could  not  have 
slept  unless  he  had  known  the  poor  Httle  things  were 
safe  with  their  mother.  At  another  time  he  went 
even  further  in  his  charity  and  rescued  a  pig  fallen 
into  a  boggy  hole. 

Reaching  a  county  seat,  it  was  customary  for 
the  legal  company  to  put  up  at  the  town  tavern 
and  sleep  two  in  a  bed,  three  or  four  beds  in  a  room  ! 
Quarters  were  close.  All  ate  at  the  same  table, 
sometimes  lawyers,  jurors,  witnesses  and  prisoners 


io8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ranged  around  the  one  board.  It  was  a  strange 
order  of  things. 

Judge  David  Davis,  who  presided  over  the  Eighth 
Judicial  Circuit,  became  an  enthusiastic  admirer 
of  Lincohi.  He  enjoyed  Kstening  to  the  droll  sto- 
ries that  Abe  told  endlessly,  and  he  remarked  the 
shrewdness  and  common  sense  of  the  gaunt  enter- 
tainer. Judge  Davis  could  not  bear  to  miss  any- 
thing Lincoln  said,  and  showed  singular  irritation 
when  he  did.  Not  alone  with  the  Judge  was  Lin- 
coln so  popular,  but  with  the  whole  community  in 
each  stopping-place.  As  ''Old  Abe"  or  "Honest 
Old  Abe,"  he  was  hailed  far  and  near. 

There  was  little  variety  in  the  cases  tried  on  the 
circuit ;  land  Htigation,  damages  sought  for  injuries 
to  cattle,  and  trials  for  assault  made  up  the  calen- 
dar. Lincoln's  set  poHcy  was  to  avoid  suit  as  much 
as  possible,  and  he  constantly  advised  clients  to 
adjust  matters  outside  of  court.  An  amusing  case 
of  his  points  a  moral.  In  vengeful  anger  a  man 
came  to  Lincoln,  demanding  him  to  institute  suit 
against  a  debtor  for  two  dollars  and  a  half.  The 
debtor  had  nothing,  not  a  cent  to  give.  Lincoln 
tried  to  persuade  the  plaintiff  to  drop  the  matter, 
but  his  cKent  persisted.  Thereupon,  the  counsel 
said  he  would  charge  ten  dollars  as  a  retainer.  His 
obstinate  cHent  paid.     Secretly,  Lincoln  gave  half 


RIDING  THE   CIRCUIT  109 

the  money  to  the  poor  defendant,  who  then  paid 
over  the  two  dollars  and  a  half  for  which  he  was 
sued,  to  the  intense  satisfaction  of  the  plaintiff ! 
This  illustrates  one  of  Lincoln's  notes  for  a  lecture 
on  law  which  he  jotted  down  in  1850 :  — 

*' Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neigh- 
bors to  compromise  whenever  you  can.  Point  out 
to  them  how  the  nominal  winner  is  often  a  real 
loser  —  in  fees,  expenses,  and  waste  of  time.  As  a 
peacemaker  the  lawyer  has  a  superior  opportunity 
of  being  a  good  man.  There  will  still  be  business 
enough." 

Lincoln  saw  very  little  of  his  Springfield  office 
during  the  six  months  or  more  out  of  every  year 
that  he  rode  the  circuit.  He  was  almost  the  only 
one  of  the  traveling  court,  except  Judge  Davis,  that 
went  the  whole  way  round  the  fourteen  counties, 
year  after  year.  The  g^^Dsylike  freedom  of  the 
life  appealed  to  him,  and  those  days  of  tiresome  so- 
journ, uncomfortable  sleeping  quarters,  and  bad 
food,  were  happy  ones. 

Judge  Davis  liked  and  trusted  Abraham  Lincoln 
enough  to  appoint  him  to  the  bench  when  he,  the 
judge,  was  forced  to  be  absent.  This  was  unusual, 
to  say  the  least,  but  perhaps  more  extraordinary 
still  was  the  manner  in  which  Lincoln  handled  his 
privilege  and   authority,  never   incurring   enmity 


no  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

or  complaint.  Instinctively,  Judge  Davis  felt  the 
mastery  of  men  which  was  latent  in  Lincoln's 
nature. 

Records  of  his  helpful  strength  and  abounding 
good  nature  must,  however,  be  balanced  by  that 
other  side  of  his  nature  which  would  persist  in  pop- 
ping out  every  little  while.  At  these  times  he  was 
the  gravest,  most  reserved  man  in  the  company, 
silent,  lost  in  faraway  reflection.  One  of  his  fellow 
circuit  riders  has  left  this  impression:  ''He  [Lin- 
coln] would  frequently  lapse  into  reverie  and  re- 
main lost  in  thought  long  after  the  rest  of  us  had 
retired  for  the  night;  and  more  than  once  I  re- 
member waking  up  early  in  the  morning  to  find 
him  sitting  before  the  fire,  his  mind  apparently  con- 
centrated on  some  subject,  and  with  the  saddest 
expression  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  human  being's 
eyes." 

Gradually,  Lincoln's  ability  as  a  lawyer  became 
recognized  by  the  general  public  of  IlHnois.  As  a 
jury  lawyer  and  at  trial  work  he  was  unexcelled. 
His  deep  knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  wit,  and 
his  power  to  go  to  the  heart  of  a  matter  were  excep- 
tional. Between  1849  ^.nd  i860,  he  tried  more 
cases  than  any  other  lawyer  on  the  Eighth  Circuit. 
In  1853  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  retained  him 
as  counsel,  and  subsequently  he  was  legal  adviser 


RIDING  THE  CIRCUIT  ill 

to  the  Rock  Island  Road.  Upon  several  occasions 
"Big  Business"  engaged  him,  all  of  which  led  to  his 
pitting  his  brains  against  the  best  in  the  state,  and 
pubhc  records  show  him  victor  over  the  cleverest 
legal  talent  in  the  region. 

The  worst  disappointment  of  his  career  in  the  law 
was  in  a  reaper  patent  case  tried  in  Cincinnati. 
BriUiant  lawyers  were  engaged  on  the  opposing  side 
and  Lincoln  felt  it  the  opportunity  of  his  lifetime  to 
do  battle  with  them.  Almost  at  the  last  minute 
Lincoln's  cHent  grew  afraid  of  the  strong  counsel 
ranged  in  opposition  and  decided  to  get  some  one 
more  powerful  than  the  ** country  lawyer"  he  had 
retained.  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  then  a  well-known 
barrister,  was  called  in.  Lincoln,  after  having 
prepared  himself  thoroughly  in  the  case,  had  the 
matter  taken  out  of  his  hands.  To  add  to  the 
injury,  he  overheard  Stanton  sarcastically  exclaim, 
"Where  did  that  long-armed  creature  come  from 
and  what  can  he  expect  to  do  in  this  case?'* 

A  few  years  later  "  the  long-armed  creature"  was 
to  reward  the  insult  by  making  Stanton  his  Secre- 
tary of  War ! 

Before  a  jury  Lincoln  was  at  his  best.  No  one 
in  the  state  of  lUinois  could  touch  him  there.  A 
child  could  understand  his  arguments,  grasp  his 
proposition.     With  a  sure  sweep  he  brushed  away 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

details  and  presented  the  vital  points.  Keen 
logic  was  his,  and  keener  humor.  Both  he  used 
effectively.  He  probably  laughed  more  cases  out 
of  court  than  any  other  man  who  ever  practiced 
at  the  bar,  yet  he  could  be  dramatic  and  pathetic 
to  an  extreme  degree.  His  case  of  an  old  woman, 
the  widow  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  against  a 
pension  shark,  has  been  cited  a  thousand  times. 
In  his  plea  he  described  the  sufferings  of  the  sol- 
diers at  Valley  Forge,  dwelt  on  the  sorrows  and 
pitiable  weakness  of  his  aged  client,  then  blazed 
away  at  the  robber  defendant  who  would  take  food 
out  of  the  mouths  of  the  helpless.  The  court 
was  dissolved  in  tears.  Of  course,  Lincoln  won 
the  day. 

But  one  of  his  most  celebrated  cases  had  to  do 
with  the  defense  of  William  Armstrong,  son  of  that 
Clary  Grove  champion  whom  Lincoln  worsted  that 
early  day  in  New  Salem.  William  was  held  for 
murder.  There  had  been  a  brawl  in  which  he  and 
a  crony  had  beaten  a  third  fellow,  the  latter  dying 
of  his  injuries.  Norris,  the  crony,  had  been  sen- 
tenced to  eight  years  in  prison.  Hannah  Arm- 
strong, the  mother  of  William,  appealed  to  Lincoln 
to  save  her  son.  He  was  in  desperate  pHght,  and 
the  law  of  Illinois  would  not  allow  him  to  testify 
in  his  own  behalf. 


RIDING  THE   CIRCUIT  113 

Taking  the  case  in  hand,  Lincoln  managed  the 
witnesses  so  adroitly  that  no  damaging  testimony 
was  given  until  a  man  named  Allen  swore  that  he 
actually  saw  the  prisoner  deal  the  blow  which 
killed  the  deceased  —  a  blow  dealt  with  a  slung- 
shot,  or  a  similar  weapon. 

Lincoln  pressed  this  witness  hard  and  got  him  to 
fix  the  hour  of  assault  in  which  he  saw  all  this  so 
clearly  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  Seeing  his 
advantage,  Lincoln  bade  Allen  inform  the  jury 
how  he  could  see  at  that  time  of  night. 

''By  the  moonlight,"  said  Allen  without  hesita- 
tion. 

''Well,  was  there  light  enough  to  see  every- 
thing that  happened?"  insisted  the  dogged 
cross-examiner. 

Allen  then  described  in  detail  where  the  moon 
was  at  that  hour,  and  furthermore  said  he  noted 
it  was  almost  full. 

Hardly  were  the  words  spoken  when  Lincoln 
produced  a  calendar  and  by  it  proved  to  the  jury 
that  the  moon  at  the  hour  and  date  specified  was 
only  slightly  past  its  first  quarter  and  therefore 
could  have  afforded  little  or  no  light !  From  that 
dramatic  moment  on,  Lincoln  swept  everything 
before  him,  obtaining  an  acquittal  for  the  youth  he 
once  had  rocked  in  his  homely  cradle  while  Hannah 
I 


114  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Armstrong  got  supper  ready.  The  grateful  mother 
offered  to  pay  her  counsel  for  saving  her  son  from 
the  hangman's  noose,  but  Lincoln  smiled  at  the 
idea  and  gently  refused  any  remuneration. 

Besides  his  generosity  with  cHents,  and  his  in- 
sistence on  small  fees,  Lincoln  himself  had  to  be- 
lieve in  the  justice  of  a  case  in  order  to  defend  it 
well.  Many  were  the  cases  he  gave  up  voluntarily 
because  he  could  not  sanction  the  cause.  As  a 
money-maker  he  was  the  despair  of  partners  and 
legal  brothers.  Avarice  had  no  place  in  his  nature. 
Wealth  to  him  was,  as  he  often  said,  *' simply  a 
superfluity  of  things  we  don't  need." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Great  Debates 

To  quote  Lincoln's  words,  "In  1854  his  profes- 
sion had  almost  superseded  the  thought  of  pohtics 
in  his  mind,  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise aroused  him  as  he  had  never  been  before." 
This  "Missouri  Compromise"  was  a  law  passed 
by  Congress  in  the  year  1820,  which  admitted  Mis- 
souri to  the  Union  as  a  slave  state,  and  forbade 
slavery  in  all  other  territory  of  the  United  States 
north  of  the  latitude  36°  30',  which  was  the  south- 
ern boundary  line  of  Missouri.  However,  most  of 
the  vast  tracts  of  land  lying  in  what  was  then  the 
undeveloped  West,  out  of  which  states  were  to  be 
organized  in  the  future,  were  north  of  this  Hne ; 
and  the  South,  fearing  the  power  which  would 
come  to  the  North  through  the  creation  of  such 
free  states,  desired  the  repeal  of  this  Compromise. 

Differences  over  the  institution  of  slavery  were 
almost  as  old  as  the  nation ;  and  for  a  half-century 
they  had  torn  the  sections  with  strife.  Negro 
labor  had  become  essential  to  the  South  in  their 

"5 


Ii6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

pursuit  of  agriculture,  but  in  the  North  the  black 
man  was  not  needed  in  business.  The  South  took 
the  stand  that  the  North  wanted  to  control  them  in 
the  matter  of  having  negroes  for  slaves,  and  that 
Northern  people  were  against  slavery  because  it 
was  not  a  necessity  among  them.  The  North,  on 
the  other  hand,  said  that  to  ensla,ve  another  man, 
no  matter  what  his  color,  was  wrong  and  shameful 
in  a  country  boasting  of  its  freedom. 

Lincoln  had  grown  up  in  the  midst  of  all  this  con- 
flict of  opinion  and  feeling.  As  we  know,  he  ex- 
pressed his  ideas  on  the  subject  more  than  once; 
always,  however,  steering  a  middle  course  between 
rabid  abolitionism  and  fanatic  pro-slavery.  He 
believed  that  the  institution  should  be  restricted  to 
limits  then  fixed,  and  not  allowed  to  spread ;  hence 
when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  opened 
up  new  fields  for  the  growth  of  slavery,  he  was 
'*  aroused  as  never  before."  And,  it  is  singular  to 
note,  his  old  antagonist,  Douglas,  now  a  senator, 
was  the  man  mainly  responsible  for  that  repeal. 

Indeed,  for  ten  years  Douglas,  as  senator,  had 
tried  to  get  Congress  to  organize  the  territory  west 
of  Missouri  and  Iowa.  Little  attention  was  paid 
his  efforts.  But  in  1854  he  came  forward  with  a 
new  proposition  to  offer  in  relation  to  the  land. 
This  was  a  bill  providing  that  two  territories  — 


THE   GREAT  DEBATES  117 

Kansas  and  Nebraska  —  should  be  organized,  and 
that  the  people  of  the  territories  be  themselves 
allowed  to  decide  whether  they  should  be  free  or 
slaves  states.  In  brief,  that  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise of  1820  be  declared  void.  When  this  bill 
was  passed,  the  North  was  outraged,  but  the  South 
was  highly  gratified. 

Douglas  was  despised  in  the  North.  In  his  ac- 
tion was  seen  a  desire  to  please  the  South  and  win 
its  support  for  the  presidency.  In  lUinois,  his 
adopted  state,  the  people  were  against  him.  Chi- 
cago went  into  pubhc  mourning  and  tolled  funeral 
bells.  Douglas  tried  to  explain  his  acts  to  his  con- 
stituents. It  was  in  October,  1854,  that  Lincoln 
replied  to  one  of  Douglas's  most  gUb  speeches, 
at  the  Illinois  Agricultural  Fair,  held  at  Springfield. 
Lincoln  turned  every  one  of  Douglas's  arguments 
inside  out,  proving  them  false  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
The  gist  of  Lincoln's  contention  was  in  these 
words :  — 

*'I  admit  that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska is  competent  to  govern  himself ;  but  I  deny 
his  right  to  govern  any  other  person  without  that 
person's  consent." 

So  convincing  were  Lincoln's  words  that  Douglas 
could  not  find  an  adequate  reply,  though  he  tried. 


Ii8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Some  days  later,  at  Peoria,  Douglas  again  ad- 
dressed a  big  crowd  of  people,  and  Lincoln  again 
took  the  platform  to  combat  the  ''Little  Giant.'* 
Each  spoke  for  three  hours.  At  the  end  Douglas, 
discomfited,  came  up  to  Lincoln  and  said :  — 

"You  understand  this  question  of  slavery  in 
the  territories  better  than  all  the  opposition  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  I  cannot  make 
anything  by  debating  it  with  you.  You,  Mr. 
Lincoln,  have  here  and  at  Springfield  given  me 
more  trouble  than  all  the  opposition  in  the  Senate 
combined." 

Douglas  then  proposed  that  neither  speak  further 
during  the  campaign.  To  this  Lincoln  gave  as- 
sent, but  Douglas  broke  the  agreement,  and  his 
antagonist  once  more  entered  the  lists. 

That  election  was  for  a  senatorship.  There  were 
three  parties  represented  in  the  Illinois  legislature 
—  Democrats,  Whigs,  and  Anti-Nebraska  Demo- 
crats. For  the  Senate  the  Democrats  nominated 
General  Shields,  of  duel  celebrity,  the  Anti-Ne- 
braska party  were  for  Lyman  Trumbull,  and  the 
Whigs  named  Lincoln.  Most  of  the  Anti-Ne- 
braskas  were  eventually  won  over  to  Lincoln,  but 
there  were  five  of  them  who  would  not  vote  for  a 
Whig  under  any  circumstances.  They  held  out  for 
Trumbull,  though  their  companions  had  gone  over 


THE   GREAT  DEBATES  119 

to  Lincoln.  Realizing  the  deadlock,  and  fearing 
a  Douglas  Democracy  triumph,  Lincoln  told  his 
friends  to  cast  their  votes  for  Trumbull,  which  they 
did,  much  against  their  wishes.  Lincoln  had  never 
desired  a  position  more  than  this  one  of  senator, 
but  he  sacrificed  his  ambition  to  the  good  of  his 
cause.  He  lost  that  honor,  but  through  his  unself- 
ish act  won  a  host  of  new  friends,  even  the  five 
who  had  held  out  for  Trumbull  eventually  coming 
under  his  standard. 

In  that  year  of  1856  was  held  the  first  Republican 
convention,  and  there  Lincoln  was  named  as  one  of 
the  candidates  for  Vice-President.  He  received 
one  hundred  and  ten  votes.  When  he  heard  of  it 
Lincoln  laughed  in  increduHty  and  said  he  thought 
it  was  intended  for  another  Lincoln  —  an  eminent 
man  in  New  England. 

At  Bloomington,  Illinois,  on  May  29,  1856, 
Lincoln  addressed  a  big  state  convention.  This  was 
his  famous  ''lost  speech,"  so  called  because  every- 
body there  in  the  capacity  of  reporter  was  so  elec- 
trified by  his  eloquence  that  taking  notes  was  an 
impossibility.  The  whole  audience  was  literally 
swept  off  its  feet  by  the  power  of  the  orator's 
words. 

However,  the  opponents  of  slavery  extension  were 
divided  between  John   C.   Fremont  and   Millard 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Fillmore  in  the  election,  and  Buchanan,  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate,  was  made  President.  It  was  a 
distinct  triumph  for  the  South,  for  although 
Buchanan  was  a  Northern  man,  he  was  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  principles  held  by  the  Southerners. 
Shortly  following  his  election  came  the  celebrated 
Dred  Scott  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court,  in  which 
it  was  settled  that  a  slave  was  always  the  undis- 
puted property  of  his  master,  whether  living  in  a 
free  state  or  not.  Dred  Scott,  the  negro  slave,  had 
brought  up  the  question  in  the  courts,  as  he  thought 
his  residence  on  free  soil  made  of  him  a  freedman. 
Great  excitement  followed  the  case.  The  Supreme 
Court  decision  inflamed  the  anti-slavery  people. 
And  furthermore,  the  opinion  of  Chief- Justice 
Taney  went  to  such  extremes  as  to  intimate  that 
neither  Congress  nor  a  territorial  legislature  had 
any  right  to  exclude  slavery  from  a  territory. 

Then  followed  civil  strife  in  Kansas.  Both 
Southern  and  Northern  emigrants  had  rushed  to 
the  territory  to  make  it  their  own.  Bloodshed 
had  been  the  result,  and  the  United  States  troops 
had  been  called  out  to  maintain  peace  and  order. 
The  majority  in  Kansas  wished  the  state  to  come 
in  free,  but  the  opposing  element  tried  to  maneuver 
it  in  under  a  slave  constitution.  Buchanan  sup- 
ported the  latter  move,  which  led  to  Douglas  at- 


THE   GREAT  DEBATES  121 

tacking  the  administration.  The  President  warned 
the  "Little  Giant"  that  he  would  be  crushed  for 
his  daring.  Douglas  fearlessly  maintained  his 
stand.     In  one  speech  he  said  :  — 

*'If  Kansas  wants  a  slave  constitution  she  has  a 
right  to  it.  It  is  none  of  my  business  which  way 
the  slavery  clause  is  decided.  I  care  not  whether 
the  slavery  clause  is  voted  up  or  voted  down.'' 

Violence  invaded  the  very  precincts  of  the  Senate. 
Senator  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  had  delivered 
a  speech  in  Congress  denouncing  the  Kansas  out- 
rage. Because  of  his  bitter  eloquence,  Senator 
Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  rose  one  day  from  his 
seat,  went  over  to  where  Sumner  sat,  and  beat  him 
with  a  heavy  cane  until  he  was  almost  dead,  and 
only  for  the  intervention  of  bystanders  would  have 
killed  him.  Fresh  fuel  was  thus  added  to  the  fires 
of  hatred  burning  throughout  the  land. 

In  the  midst  of  it  all  came  the  election  for  sena- 
torship  in  Illinois.  It  was  the  year  1858.  Douglas 
was  indorsed  for  the  office  by  the  Democrats,  and 
on  June  16  the  Republican  State  Convention  chose 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  its  candidate.  Accepting  this 
honor  Lincoln  made  one  of  his  most  famous  speeches 
—  the  ** House  Divided  Against  Itself"  speech. 
It  was  a  bold,  brave  statement  of  his  deepest  con- 
victions, and  his  friends  were  afraid  that  his  fear- 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

less  handling  of  the  subject  would  be  fatal  to  his 
success  in  the  coming  campaign.  They  urged  him 
to  omit  the  well-known  passage  :  — 

^' We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy 
was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object  and  confident 
promise  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation. 
Under  the  operation  of  that  policy  that  agitation 
has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  aug- 
mented. In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease,  until 
a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  'A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  be- 
lieve this  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the 
Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the 
other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the 
pubHc  mind  shall  rest  in  the  beHef  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction ;  or  its  advocates 
will  push  it  forward,  till  it  shall  become  alike  law- 
ful in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new  —  North 
as  well  as  South." 

His  friends  said  these  words  would  wreck  him 
politically.  Lincoln  replied  that  he  would  rather 
be  defeated  with  those  sentiments  given  to  the 
world  than  succeed  without  having  uttered  them. 


THE   GREAT   DEBATES  123 

He  declared  that  one  day  it  would  be  admitted  that 
these  were  the  wisest  words  he  had  ever  spoken. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1858  both  candidates  went 
canvassing.  With  ease  and  suavity  Douglas  ad- 
dressed his  audiences,  convincing  them  that  all  he 
wanted  was  fair  play  all  around.  Lincoln,  intense 
with  moral  purpose,  showed  how  Douglas  was 
glossing  over  the  really  vital  points  at  issue.  He 
denied  that  any  one  could  dismiss  the  question  as 
lightly  as  Douglas  did,  with  his  apparent  indiffer- 
ence as  to  whether  a  people  endured  slavery  or  not. 

On  July  24  Lincoln  challenged  the  ''Little  Giant'* 
to  a  series  of  joint  debates.  Seven  debates  were 
arranged  for  in  as  many  Illinois  towns  of  impor- 
tance. Douglas  was  to  open  and  close  four  of  them, 
Lincoln  three.  Immense  crowds  came  to  hear  the 
speakers,  and  the  people  indulged  in  a  semi-hoHday. 
Many  farmers  came  from  a  distance,  bringing  their 
midday  meal.  Twenty  thousand  assembled  at  the 
first  great  debate.  Douglas  arrived  in  a  special 
car  gay  with  bunting,  and  cannon  and  brass  bands 
saluted  him.  Lincoln  came  quietly,  without  noise 
or  show  of  any  kind. 

They  were  pretty  evenly  matched  in  power  to 
hold  and  persuade  a  multitude.  Both  men  had 
risen  from  obscurity.  Physically  they  were  in 
singular  contrast.     Douglas  was  short  and  rotund, 


124  ABRAIL\M  LINCOLN 

handsome  and  magnetic,  with  a  sweeping  eloquence 
that  dazzled  while  it  failed  to  con\T[nce.  He  was 
florid  and  effective,  but  lacking  in  wit.  Lincoln 
was  tall,  plain  in  feature,  but  with  a  simplicity  and 
purity  of  language  that  never  clouded  his  meaning. 
His  penetrating  logic  and  homely  humor  were  in- 
valuable assets.  Lincoln  went  to  the  point  at  issue ; 
Douglas  went  around  it.  It  was  a  battle  royal  they 
waged,  Lincoln  lunging  straight  at  the  mark,  so  to 
speak,  while  Douglas  was  a  clever  and  bewildering 
fencer. 

Their  subject  was  that  of  slavery  under  its  new 
aspects.  Especially  was  its  extension  discussed, 
Lincoln  showing  how  it  was  being  forced  upon  the 
people,  even  against  their  \vdll.  The  Republicans 
of  lUinois  did  not  want  to  free  the  slaves,  he  said ; 
they  were  not  abolitionists,  "  but  they  did  want 
slavery  restricted  to  its  original  area  instead  of 
spreading  all  over  the  country.''  Afresh,  Douglas 
declared  his  principles  of  "popular  sovereignty"  — 
that  the  people  of  a  territory  should  decide  for  them- 
selves about  the  institution.  Then  Lincoln  asked 
him  about  the  attempted  forcing  of  Kansas  into 
the  Union  as  a  slave  state,  and  what  about  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  which,  in  substance,  permitted 
an  owner  of  slaves  to  conduct  his  property  any- 
where. 


THE   GREAT  DEBATES  125 

Douglas  affirmed  that  the  "Black  Republicans," 
as  he  nicknamed  the  new  political  party,  aimed  at 
stirring  up  hatred  of  the  South.  This  Lincoln  denied, 
saying  that  all  his  party  desired  was  the  suppression 
of  the  spread  of  slavery  into  new  states,  following 
the  evident  plan  of  the  **  Fathers  of  our  country," 
when  they  passed  the  Ordinance  of  1787  forbidding 
slavery  in  the  Northwest  Territory. 

At  first,  Douglas  treated  Lincoln  rather  conde- 
scendingly and  in  superior  fashion,  as  befitted  the 
best  debater  in  the  United  States  Senate.  But  it 
slowly  dawned  on  Douglas  that  Lincoln  was  getting 
the  better  of  him.  Particularly  was  this  true  when 
Douglas,  with  overweening  confidence,  put  a  series 
of  seven  questions  to  Lincoln  in  an  attempt  to  make 
him  a  loser  at  the  outset.  At  this  time  they  were 
met  in  the  southern,  or  slave-infected,  region  of 
Ilhnois.  However,  Lincoln  not  only  answered  all 
questions  successfully,  but  he  propounded  four 
himself  —  one  so  skillfully  constructed  that  if  Doug- 
las answered  at  all,  he  would  offend  either  the 
South  or  the  Northern  Democrats.  Lincoln  fore- 
saw that  his  answer  to  the  question  would  ruin 
Douglas's  chances  of  ever  becoming  President, 
even  if  he  did  secure  the  reelection  to  the  Senate. 
Douglas,  on  the  horns  of  this  dilemma,  chose  what 
he  thought  the  lesser  evil  in  the  way  of  an  answer, 


126  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

but  as  Lincoln  foresaw,  his  words  doomed  him  in 
the  South. 

So,  in  the  remaining  debates,  Douglas  grew  fretful 
and  spiteful.  He  used  all  his  arts  to  anger  Lincoln, 
but  the  latter  remained  calm,  serene,  and  victorious. 
Though  Lincoln  was  triumphant  in  this  unprece- 
dented debate,  he  was  not  elected  to  the  Senate. 
The  legislature  voted  for  Douglas.  Lincoln  was 
disappointed,  but  philosophic.  At  any  rate,  he 
was  convinced  that  Douglas  would  reach  no  higher 
office  than  the  one  he  had  held. 

When  asked  how  he  felt  about  his  defeat,  he  said 
that  he  was  Hke  the  overgrown  boy  who  stubbed 
his  toe,'' it  hurt  too  bad  to  laugh  and  he  was  too 
big  to  cry." 

These  debates,  nevertheless,  made  Lincoln  known 
the  country  over.  They  had  appeared  in  full  in 
numerous  newspapers,  and  people  from  Maine 
to  Cahfornia  weighed  the  merits  and  the  argu- 
ments of  the  two  men  and  found  Abraham  Lincoln 
the  better  man. 


CIL\PTER  XV 

Nominated  for  President 

A  LEADING  lawyer  in  the  state,  Lincoln  returned 
to  some  of  his  most  important  cases  after  his  historic 
contest  with  Senator  Douglas.  Once  more  we  find 
him  on  the  circuit.  But  his  reputation  had  spread 
far  and  wide,  and  he  was  invited  to  speak  in  many 
places.  In  the  autumn  of  1S59  he  delivered 
addresses  in  Ohio.  Then  came  his  invitation  to 
address  a  New  York  audience. 

On  February  27,  i860,  Lincoln  stood  before  his 
first  New  York  pubhc  at  Cooper  Institute,  and  made 
what  was  the  supreme  effort  of  his  career.  All 
the  culture  of  the  great  city  was  represented  among 
his  hearers.  On  the  platform  sat  Horace  Greeley, 
William  CuUen  Bryant,  and  many  scholars  and 
poHticians.  They  were  perhaps  prompted  more 
by  curiosity  than  by  anything  else  in  being  present. 
Some  of  them  expected  to  hear  racy  stories,  ques- 
tionable jokes,  and  the  crude  oratory  of  the  Western 
stump  speaker.  Rumors  had  preceded  the  speaker, 
and  a  large  majority  of  the  audience  expected  to 

127 


128  ABRAIL\\I  LINXOLN 


bt  vu.iCj.y  cncciLujiicvi.  Aug.  ""~e"  the  tall,  gawky 
f  r- :  f  :  \  :ne  forward,  dad  in  ill  -  z :  :iQg  black  dothes, 
w:  ::  1  v  :  mnqded,  and  a  :  2.rd  gestures,  they 
th :  _  r  :. :  : : .  r : :  fun  assured. 

Lr  ;  zi  :  t :  z  bis  immortal  speedi  in  a  low  voice 
and  in  iiziir-t  fashion  h'lt  his  sinceritv-  soon  nred 
liim  ani  i:  e : : :  r : ":  eer  :  i::  z  ::ii  ev^ybody  ezc^t 
his  subject.  M^i  stood  up  and  cheered.  It  was 
one  ol  the  greatest  speeches  that  any  of  his  listeners 
had  ever  heard.  Even  Horace  Greeley,  who  had 
been  skeptical  of  this  WcSCcmer,  acknowledged  that 
it  w£5  .f  r  best  address  he  hif  ever  listened  to,  and 
he  had  :::ea  heard  We: s.er. 

Indeei    .jii:  Cooper  Insuuite  speech  was  a  mas- 

teily  s  : ing  up  of  the  ~h:lr  rl^  .  ery  question  in 

this  country,  preserved  without  bias  or  bitterness. 
Of  the  Southern  and  Xorthem  attitudes,  he  said.  — 

''An  they  ask  we  ooukl  readily  grant,  if  we 
thought  slavery  ri^t;   all  we  ask  they  could 
leadil^  grant,  if  they  thou^t  it  wrong 

There  it  was  in  a  nutshelL  His  2.TTirr.tLiis  were 
unanswoable.  At  the  dose  of  this  remarkable 
address  he  uttered  the  famous  words.  — 

"  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might ;  and 
in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty 
as  we  understand  it." 

It  —IS  almost  a  prayer. 


9f 


XOMIXATED   FOR  PR£SIDEXT  129 

Next  day  the  newspapers  printed  his  speech  and 
re\'iewed  it  enthusiastically.  Lincoln  had  won  the 
East.  To  complete  his  conquest,  he  journeyed  in 
New  England  and  repeated  his  ideas  and  sentiments. 

After  this  trip  East,  Lincoln  was  often  spoken  of 
as  a  possible  candidate  for  the  next  presidential 
election,  but  he  alwa>*5  said  that  he  considered 
himself  unworthv.  There  were  manv  shrewd 
politicians  in  Illinois,  however,  who  thought  him 
worthv  enough  to  enter  the  race,  and  thev  ma- 
neuvered  to  have  a  National  Republican  Conven- 
tion held  in  Chicago.  Meanwhile,  at  the  Republi- 
can State  Convention,  held  in  Decatur  on  May  10, 
Lincoln  was  acclaimed  first  choice  of  Illinois  for 
President. 

It  was  at  Decatur  that  Lincoln's  cousin.  John 
Hanks,  appeared  at  a  proper  moment  in  the  pro- 
ceedings with  two  old  fence  rails  over  his  shoulder, 
and  a  banner  fl>'ing  the  words,  — 

Abraham  Lincoln:  Tlie  Rail  Candidate:  For 
President  in  1S60. 
Two  rails  from  a  lot  of  3000  made  in  1830  by 
John  Hanks  and  Abe  Lincoln  —  whose  father  was 
the  first  pioneer  of  Macon  County. 

This  was  a  signal  for  wild  enthusiasm,  and  the 
convention  shouted  and  stamped  and  waved  hats 


I30  ABR.\HAM  LINCOLN 

until  Lincoln,  who  had  only  a  few  moments  before 
been  Hfted  over  their  heads  to  the  platform,  came 
forward  and  in  an  embarrassed  manner  said,  — 

*'  I  suppose  I  am  expected  to  reply  to  that.  I 
cannot  say  whether  I  made  those  rails  or  not,  but 
I  am  quite  sure  I  have  made  a  great  many  just  as 
good." 

A  week  later  the  National  Republican  Convention 
met  at  Chicago  in  their  building  called  the  "  Wig- 
wam." There  were  a  number  of  men  whose  names 
were  put  before  the  convention  as  possible  candi- 
dates. Most  prominent  of  all  was  that  of  WilHam 
H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  who  had  been  governor  of 
that  state,  and  who  was  the  choice  of  the  wealthy 
and  powerful  East.  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri, 
a  lawyer  and  firm  friend  of  moderation  in  slavery 
measures,  was  another  candidate.  The  delegates 
from  Pennsylvania  were  for  Simon  Cameron,  a  man 
at  that  time  not  fully  trusted  by  the  people.  Ohio 
presented  the  name  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  was 
an  avowed  hater  of  slavery,  and  had  been  United 
States  Senator  and  governor  of  Ohio. 

And  Lincoln  was  the  first  Republican  ever 
selected  by  Illinois  for  such  high  honor.  His 
political  lieutenants  at  the  convention  were  his  old 
admirers.  Judge  Davis,  of  the  Eighth  Circuit,  and 
two  fellow-lawyers,  Leonard  Swett  and  Norman 


NOMINATED   FOR  PRESIDENT  131 

B.  Judd.  These  three  astute  managers  of  the 
Illinois  candidate  filled  Chicago  with  enthusiasts 
for  Lincoln. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  throughout  the  North 
that  Seward  would  be  chosen  as  the  Republican 
candidate ;  but  after  much  exciting  balloting,  Lin- 
coln was  nominated,  receiving  two  hundred  and 
fifty-four  votes. 

The  uproar  that  followed  was  indescribable. 
People  went  mad.  **  Hurrah  for  Old  Abe ! " 
^'  Three  cheers  for  Lincoln  !  "  "  Hooray  for  the 
rail-splitter !  "  was  yelled  by  ten  thousand  throats. 

Where  was  Lincoln  all  this  time?  In  a  Spring- 
field newspaper  office  he  sat,  his  chair  tilted  against 
the  wall,  an  anxious  look  on  his  careworn  coun- 
tenance. A  messenger  from  the  telegraph  office 
came  in,  breathless,  with  a  message.  Lincoln 
read  it  without  comment  and  handed  the  slip  over 
to  the  editor.  Congratulations  followed,  but  Lin- 
coln broke  away  from  his  well-wishers  with,  — 

'^  There  is  a  little  woman  down  the  street  who  will 
be  pleased  to  know  about  this.  I  think  I  will  go 
and  tell  her." 

Thus  Lincoln  brought  the  wonderful  news  to  his 
wife,  the  woman  who,  as  many  as  twenty  years 
before,  had  declared  that  Abe  would  one  day  be 
President  of  the  country. 


132  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

But  it  was  not  all  glory  and  honor.  The  Demo- 
crats, especially  the  Southern  ones,  were  enraged 
at  the  choice  of  the  Republicans.  Then,  in  their 
own  camp,  came  dissension  and  division.  After 
a  stormy  session  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in 
April,  the  Democratic  convention  split  into  what 
might  be  termed  Northern  and  Southern  halves, 
the  point  of  difference  being  slavery.  They,  how- 
ever, agreed  to  meet  again  in  Baltimore  in  June. 
But  no  reconciliation  was  possible  then;  so  the 
Southern  Democrats  nominated  John  C.  Brecken- 
ridge,  of  Kentucky,  for  the  presidency;  and  the 
other  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  chose  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  for  their  candidate.  To  further  com- 
plicate the  poHtical  tides,  some  of  the  old  Whig 
party,  who  thought  the  best  way  to  treat  the 
slavery  issue  was  to  ignore  it,  formed  themselves 
into  a  new  alliance  and  nominated  John  Bell,  of 
Tennessee. 

Four  candidates  for  President,  and  each  of  the 
four  parties  with  a  different  attitude  toward  the 
question  of  negro  slavery ! 

Let  us  fix  the  attitudes  of  these  four  parties 
clearly  in  mind  :  — ■ 

The  RepubHcan  party  declared  slavery  was 
wrong,  and  that  its  spread  into  new  states  should  be 
forbidden ;   the  Douglas  Democrats  took  no  stand 


NOMINATED   FOR  PRESIDENT  133 

for  or  against  slavery,  save  that  each  state  or 
territory  might,  and  ought,  to  settle  the  question 
itself;  the  Southern  Democrats  supported  slavery 
and  advocated  its  extension ;  the  followers  of  Bell, 
calling  themselves  the  Union  party,  thought  it  best 
to  say  nothing  about  negro  slavery  in  their  political 
principles. 

All  that  summer  preceding  the  election,  Lincoln 
remained  quietly  in  Springfield,  hearing  himself 
abused  by  North  and  South.  The  friends  of 
slavery  called  him  a  negro-lover,  and  made  rude 
jokes  at  Lincoln's  expense.  Strange  to  say,  the 
enemies  of  slavery  attacked  him  too,  for  the  rabid 
Abolitionists  thought  him  half-hearted.  Even 
men  like  Wendell  Phillips  cried,  ^'  Who  is  this 
huckster  in  politics?  Who  is  this  country  court 
advocate?  " 

The  two  extremists  hated  and  baited  him.  But 
he  had  the  support  of  a  vast  majority  among  the 
common  people.  His  lowly  origin,  his  hard  work, 
and  his  everyday  wisdom  appealed  to  them. 
Torchlight  processions  were  introduced  for  the 
first  time,  and  the  famous  ''  Wide-Awake  Boys " 
marched  all  over  the  North.  "  Honest  Abe  "  and 
"  The  Rail-Splitter  "  became  bywords. 

Election  Day,  November  6,  brought  the  crisis. 
The  result  had  been  fairly  anticipated.    Lincoln 


134  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

was  chosen  by  the  people  as  the  next  ruler  of  the 
United  States.  The  popular  vote  was  as  follows : 
Lincoln,  1,866,452;  Douglas,  1,375,157 ;  Brecken- 
ridge,  847,953;  Bell,  590,631.  Of  the  electoral 
votes  Lincoln  had  180,  the  other  three  combined, 
only  123. 

The  next  four  months  were  a  nightmare.  Lincoln 
was  compelled  to  watch  and  do  nothing  —  for  he 
was  not  yet  inaugurated  —  while  the  country 
appeared  to  be  going  to  pieces.  President  Bu- 
chanan took  no  stand  against  the  movements  of  the 
South  when,  one  by  one,  the  slave  states  withdrew 
from  the  Union,  and  announced  themselves  an 
independent  nation. 

South  Carolina  led  the  other  Southern  states,  six 
weeks  after  the  November  election.  At  Charleston 
a  state  convention  was  called,  and  it  was  pro- 
claimed that  South  Carolina  had  severed  her  ties 
from  the  United  States.  Her  palmetto  flag  was 
unfurled  to  the  boom  of  cannon  and  loud  huzzas. 
The  United  States  forts  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston 
were  threatened. 

The  men  in  the  councils  of  Buchanan  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  South.  They  did  everything 
they  could  to  ruin  the  Federal  government,  and 
planned  to  seize  all  the  forts  and  government 
properties  possible. 


NO^UNATED   FOR   PRESIDENT  135 

Florida  followed  the  example  of  South  Carolina 
in  seceding,  and  shortly  afterwards  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Georgia,  Louisiana  and  Texas  joined 
the  ranks.  Delegates  met  at  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama, and  formed  their  own  government,  naming 
their  union  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
with  Jefferson  Davis  for  president  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens  for  vice  president. 

Now,  to  further  embarrass  and  confuse  the  in- 
coming administration  in  Washington,  many  of 
the  leading  Abolitionists  vowed  that  the  Southern 
states  had  every  right  to  secede  if  they  wanted  to ! 
Leaders  of  opinion  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Boston  agreed  that  the  slave  states  acted  within 
their  rights  in  leaving  the  Union.  Horace  Greeley 
led  in  this  cry. 

How  different  was  Abraham  Lincoln's  opinion ! 
In  a  letter  of  December  17,  i860,  he  said  to  Thurlow 
Weed,— 

"  My  opinion  is,  that  no  State  can  in  any  way 
lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  without  the  consent 
of  the  others ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  other  government  functionaries  to  run 
the  machine  as  it  is.'* 

A  turn  in  the  tide  of  public  feeling  in  the  Xorth 
was  brought  about  when  a  United  States  steamer, 
Star  of  the  West,  was  fired  on  by  the  Confederate 


136  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

soldiers  as  she  was  taking  provisions  to  the  forts. 
Added  to  this,  the  Southern  government  hauled 
down  the  American  flag  over  its  forts,  seized  an 
arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge,  and  made  demand  that 
the  revenue  cutter  at  New  Orleans  be  turned  over 
to  them.  It  was  then  that  John  A.  Dix,  recently 
appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  sent  his 
stirring  dispatch  over  the  wires  — 

"//  any  man  attempts  to  haul  down  the  American 
flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot.'^ 

Northern  men  at  last  realized  the  pitiful  part 
they  were  playing  in  allowing  the  South  to  coerce 
them  into  submission  and  dishonor. 

Amid  all  the  turmoil  Lincoln  had  remained  firm 
and  calm,  though  how  sorely  troubled  no  one  could 
imagine.  He  was  beset  by  frightened  and  weak 
individuals  to  do  this,  that,  and  the  other  thing,  in 
the  way  of  absurdity.  Many  put  all  the  blame 
for  the  unfortunate  conditions  upon  Lincoln  him- 
self. He  was  literally  besieged  in  the  governor's 
room  of  the  Springfield  capitol,  where  he  saw 
visitors. 

To  wildest  suggestions  he  Hstened  quietly, 
answered  those  that  required  attention,  and  let 
nobody  divert  him  from  his  chosen  path.  One 
of  his  letters  warned  a  representative  from  Illinois, 


NOMINATED   FOR   PRESIDENT  137 

"  Entertain  no  proposition  for  a  compromise  in 
regard  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  tug  has 
got  to  come,  and  better  now  than  later." 

When  not  listening  to  his  horde  of  nervous 
advisers,  Lincoln  would  spend  his  hours  in  a  little 
room  over  a  store,  composing  his  inaugural  address, 
the  important  message  he  would  give  the  country 
on  the  4th  of  March;  behind  a  locked  door  he 
wrote  and  pondered,  changing  phrases,  altering 
words,  endeavoring  to  make  his  thought  strong 
and  sure,  yet  without  any  trace  of  conscious  effort 
or  arrogance. 

Before  leaving  for  the  capital  of  the  nation,  on 
February  11,  he  paid  a  farewell  visit  to  his  step- 
mother, and  arranged  to  have  a  stone  put  over  the 
grave  of  his  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  who  had  died 
ten  years  before.  At  parting,  his  fond  stepmother, 
who  had  always  loved  him  as  her  own,  wept  bitterly 
and  cried  that  she  would  never  see  him  again. 
Shortly  before  his  train  left,  Lincoln  paid  a  last 
visit  to  his  old  ofhce,  and  to  Herndon,  his  law 
partner.  Referring  to  their  creaking  sign  in  the 
doorway,  he  said,  — 

"  Let  it  hang  there  undisturbed.  ...  If  I 
live  I'm  coming  back  some  time,  and  then  we'll 
go  right  on  practicing  law  as  if  nothing  ever  hap- 
pened." 


138  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Gathered  at  the  little  railroad  station  were 
hundreds  of  kindly  neighbors  and  friends  to  see 
him  off.  The  day  was  gloomy  and  wet,  adding  to 
the  sadness  of  the  occasion.  Just  prior  to  the  train 
pulling  out,  Lincoln  stood  on  the  car  platform,  and 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  addressed  them :  — 

^'  My  friends :  No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can 
appreciate  my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting. 
To  this  place,  and  the  kindness  of  these  people,  I 
owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a 
century  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old 
man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is 
buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether 
ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater 
than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington.  With- 
out the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever 
attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  as- 
sistance I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him,  who  can 
go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  every- 
where for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will 
yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I 
hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid 
you  an  affectionate  farewell.'^ 


CHAPTER  XVI 

"Vexed  with  Many  Cares" 

During  the  two  weeks  of  his  journey  to  the 
national  capital,  Lincoln  stopped  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities,  as  had  been  arranged,  making  ad- 
dresses to  the  legislatures  and  delivering  little  talks 
to  crowds  of  citizens.  Always  his  words  contained 
the  same  simple  and  unfaltering  ideas  :  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Union  and  the  adherence  to  their 
principles.  He  could  not  say  what  his  course 
would  be.  Events  alone  could  determine  that. 
But  he  had  resolved  on  patience  and  prudence. 

On  the  whole,  his  speeches  disappointed  his 
hearers;  he  was  too  reserved  and  cautious.  But 
the  time  for  taking  the  public  into  his  confidence 
had  not  come. 

Lincoln  had  reached  Harrisburg  when  the 
rumors  of  a  plot  to  assassinate  him  when  visiting 
Baltimore  alarmed  his  detective  escort  and  accom- 
panying friends.  Much  against  his  will,  he  was 
persuaded  to  return  to  Philadelphia   and    take  a 

139 


I40  ABR.\HAM  LINCOLN 

train  secretly  for  Washington,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  morning  of  February  23. 

The  days  remaining  to  him  before  the  ceremony 
at  the  capitol  he  spent  in  official  routine  and  in 
final  steps  regarding  the  choice  of  a  cabinet.  Prior 
to  his  nomination  in  Chicago,  his  family  of  advisers 
had  been  partly  chosen.  His  managers.  Judge 
Davis,  Swett,  and  Judd,  had  promised  certain  dele- 
gates that  if  Lincoln  were  elected,  Caleb  B.  Smith 
of  Indiana,  and  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania, 
would  be  awarded  high  places.  This  poHtical 
dicker  had  displeased  Lincoln,  especially  as  he  had 
telegraphed  his  managers  in  the  days  of  the  Chi- 
cago convention,  ^^  Make  no  contracts  that  will 
hind  w^." 

Notwithstanding,  Lincoln  had  to  make  good  the 
promises  made  by  his  managers.  Simon  Cameron 
was  appointed  Secretary  of  War  and  Caleb  Smith 
given  the  portfolio  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
For  his  Secretary  of  State,  Lincoln  chose  his  former 
powerful  rival  for  the  presidency,  WiUiam  Henry 
Seward,  of  New  York ;  and  he  furthermore  selected 
two  other  presidential  rivals  for  his  cabinet; 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  was  made  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri,  was 
appointed  Attorney  General.  Two  more  were 
needed  to  complete  his  official  family,  and  Lincoln 


*' VEXED   WITH  MANY  CARES"  141 

gave  the  secretaryship  of  the  navy  to  Gideon  Welles, 
of  Connecticut ;  and  made  Montgomery  Blair,  of 
Maryland,  the  Postmaster  General. 

His  choice  of  the  seven  members  of  his  cabinet 
was  severely  criticized.  Republicans  complained 
that  he  was  favoring  the  Democrats,  inasmuch  as 
four  of  the  cabinet  members  were  ex-Democrats, 
and  that,  in  consequence,  it  was  a  poor  balance  of 
power.     To  this  Lincoln  replied  good-naturedly, — 

"Very  well,  since  I  myself  am  an  ex-Whig,  we 
shall  be  pretty  well  balanced." 

One  Republican  described  the  cabinet  as  "an 
assortment  of  rivals."  Seward  and  his  followers 
were  especially  prejudiced  and  critical,  and  on 
March  2d,  two  days  before  the  inauguration, 
Seward  withdrew  his  name  from  the  chosen  cabinet. 
Four  days  later  the  new  President  persuaded  the 
New  York  leader  to  come  back  to  his  fold  of 
counselors. 

The  inauguration  itself  took  place  quietly  and 
without  any  especial  feature,  though  there  had 
been  threats  that  Lincoln  would  never  be  permitted 
to  take  the  oath  of  ofhce.  Washington  was  full 
of  his  enemies,  but  General  Wlnfield  Scott  and  his 
troops  kept  order.  In  the  procession  that  left 
the  Senate  Chamber  for  the  public  platform  were 
many  distinguished  men,  including  Senator  Doug- 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

las,  who  held  his  one-time  rival's  hat  while  Lincoln 
read  his  inaugural  address  to  a  vast  assembly  of 
people.  His  inaugural  was  a  clear,  gentle,  but 
firm  statement  of  the  attitude  of  the  new  admin- 
istration. Much  of  it  was  directed  to  the  South, 
and  in  terms  of  reason  and  affection  counseled 
them  to  abandon  rash  measures.  In  a  dignified 
manner  he  pleaded  with  the  discontented  section. 
Among  other  sentiments,  he  said  :  — 

"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-country- 
men, and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of 
ci\dl  war.  The  government  will  not  assail  you. 
.  .  .  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 
The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every'  living  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet 
sweU  the  chorus  of  the  L^nion,  when  again  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature." 

These  were  the  closing  words.  Their  utterance 
over,  Chief  Justice  Taney  stepped  forward  to  ad- 
minister the  oath  of  office.  In  a  solemn  moment 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  made  President  of  the  LTnited 
States.  First  to  congratulate  him  was  Senator 
Douglas,  and  a  lifelong  rivalry-  was  ended  in  a  hearty 


"XXXED  WITH  M.\XY   CARES"  143 

handclasp.  It  is  also  well  to  state  Douglas's  idea 
of  the  existing  political  condition.  While  promi- 
nent Abolitionists,  like  Seward  and  Wendell 
Phillips,  maintained  that  the  Southern  states  had 
every  right  to  declare  a  separate  government, 
Douglas  came  out  with  this  striking  opinion  :  — 

''If  the  Southern  states  attempt  to  secede,  I  am 
in  favor  of  their  ha\Tng  just  so  many  slaves,  and 
just  so  much  slave  territory-,  as  they  can  hold  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  and  no  more." 

For  a  month  after  the  inauguration  there  was 
no  move  made  on  the  part  of  the  South  to  carr>'  out 
its  program  of  enmity,  and  during  that  time 
Lincoln  had  taken  hold  of  the  reins  of  government. 
How  well,  is  illustrated  by  his  management  of  Sew- 
ard. Either  because  Lincoln  had  shown  anxiety 
to  retain  him  as  Secretary  of  State,  or  because  he 
considered  himself  far  above  the  Western  rail- 
splitter  in  experience  and  education,  Seward  one 
day  sent  Lincoln  a  letter  headed,  ''Some  Thoughts 
for  the  President's  Consideration."  In  this  re- 
markable document  Seward  \'irtuallv  dictated  to 
the  President  what  course  he  ought  to  pursue  in 
relation  to  the  present  situation  and  in  his  dealings 
with  foreign  nations.  By  suggestion,  he  also  gave 
Lincoln  to  understand  that  he,  Seward,  was  the 
man  equal  to  these  emergencies.     It  was  the  same 


144  ABIL\HA]M  LINCOLN 

as  if  he  had  said  to  Lincohi,  ''You  must  be  a 
figurehead  ;   I  will  be  the  real  ruler." 

Some  of  Seward's  suggestions  in  this  letter  were 
utterly  unworthy  of  the  man  and  statesman.  If 
Lincoln  had  been  as  weak  or  ignorant  as  Seward 
supposed,  and  had  fallen  in  with  the  proposition, 
the  whole  system  of  our  government  might  have 
been  overturned  and  inameasurable  calamity  have 
befallen  the  country. 

But  Lincoln  was  master  of  the  situation,  and  in 
a  firm  but  gentle  tone  replied  that  he  alone  must 
decide  those  or  any  other  vital  questions ;  always, 
of  course,  with  the  privilege  of  seeking  advice 
from  the  Cabinet  if  need  be.  Upon  digesting  this 
courteous  but  no  less  masterful  answer  to  his 
"Thoughts,"  Seward  appears  to  have  recognized 
the  quality  of  his  chief ;  from  that  time  forth  he  was 
tireless  in  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  President. 

For  a  while  North  and  South  played  a  waiting 
game.  The  Northerners  thought  the  administration 
ought  to  settle  matters  one  way  or  another — let  the 
slaveholding  states  secede  without  objection — grant 
their  separate  government  —  anything  to  end  the 
suspense.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Confederates 
urged  Jefferson  Da\ds  to  take  some  decisive  step. 

In  this  hour  of  tensity  his  Cabinet  was  of  little 
help  to  Lincoln.    They  thought  for  the  most  part 


''VEXED   WITH  MANY  CARES"  145 

that  the  easiest  way  was  the  best.  Even  old  Gen- 
eral Scott,  head  of  the  United  States  Army,  advised 
the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  which  the  South 
desired.     This  Lincoln  refused  to  do. 

Major  Robert  Anderson,  with  a  small  detail  of 
soldiers,  held  Fort  Sumter,  and  they  were  sadly 
in  need  of  provisions.  Lincoln  determined  to  send 
supplies  to  the  garrison,  and  notified  General 
Beauregard,  at  Charleston,  that  he  intended  doing 
so.  Upon  receiving  this  news  General  Beauregard, 
on  April  11,  sent  word  to  Major  Anderson  to 
surrender  the  fort  or  suffer  consequences.  Major 
Anderson  replied  that  he  would  remain  until 
starvation  forced  him  out. 

The  next  day  the  Confederates  bombarded  the 
fortress  from  the  shore,  keeping  up  their  fire  far 
into  the  night.  Major  Anderson  returned  shot 
as  he  might,  but  his  defense  was  weak,  and  on  the 
13th  Fort  Sumter,  badly  battered,  was  given  up  to 
the  Southerners.  Meanwhile,  the  Federal  relief 
expedition  lay  idle  and  helpless  not  far  away. 

Sumter  was  the  strongest  fortress  on  the  South 
Atlantic  coast,  and  the  people  of  the  South  were 
overjoyed  at  its  coming  into  their  hands.  The 
populace  of  Charleston  was  wild  with  enthusiasm 
at  the  victory.  But  the  attack  upon  Sumter  awoke 
all  the  slumbering  patriotism  of  the  North,  and  at 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

last  Republican,  Democrat,  Abolitionist,  and  Whig 
realized  that  the  Federal  government  had  been 
defied  and  insulted.  Like  wildfire  the  spirit  of 
fight  spread  in  the  North.  When  Lincoln  called  for 
75,000  volunteers  to  serve  three  months,  it  was 
responded  to  by  more  men  than  could  be  handled. 
Camps  sprung  up  like  mushrooms  overnight 
everywhere  in  the  North.  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
IlKnois  alone  offered  all  the  men  that  could  be 
used.  Michigan  had  50,000  ready  for  the  front 
within  her  own  borders.  Massachusetts  had  a 
regiment  equipped  and  marching  before  forty-eight 
hours  had  passed.  The  spirit  of  the  North  had 
awakened ! 

And  Southerners  wTre  as  loyal  and  ardent  to 
fight  for  what  they  considered  their  rights.  The 
Southern  states  that  had  not  already  seceded,  did 
so  —  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and 
Arkansas  joined  their  fortunes  to  the  Confederate 
cause.  Delaware  alone,  of  the  slaveholding  states, 
responded  to  President  Lincoln's  call  for  troops. 

On  the  whole,  the  South  was  better  prepared  for 
war  than  the  North.  Its  states  had  been  arming 
for  months  and  the  troops  were  well  drilled.  They 
felt  that  one  of  their  soldiers  was  equal  to  ten 
Yankees,  though  in  actual  proportion  the  North 
numbered  four  whites  to  one  in  the  South. 


"VEXED   WITH   MAX\^   CARES"  147 

Though  the  rank  and  file  had  responded  so  over- 
whekningly  in  the  North,  and  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  held  true  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  there 
were  many  backsliders  among  trusted  officers 
who  went  over  to  the  enemy.  General  Winfield 
Scott,  then  the  highest  officer  in  the  army,  and 
seventy-six  years  of  age,  was  offered  the  command 
of  the  Virginia  troops.     His  answer  was  memorable  : 

*'I  have  served  my  country  under  the  flag  of  the 
Union  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  as  long  as  God 
permits  me  to  live,  I  will  defend  that  flag  with  my 
sword,  even  if  my  own  native  State  assails  it !" 

Just  the  opposite  was  the  decision  of  Robert  E. 
Lee,  at  that  time  a  colonel  in  the  United  States 
Army.  Though  he  said,  "I  cannot  imagine  a 
greater  calamity  than  the  dissolution  of  the  Union," 
he  decided  to  cast  his  lot  with  Virginia.  General 
Scott,  realizing  that  his  age  and  infirmities  barred 
him  from  taking  the  field,  offered  Lee  the  command 
of  the  Union  Army.  But  Virginia,  seceding, 
decided  him  against  acceptance. 

Another  man  who  played  a  big  part  in  bringing 
about  this  national  crisis,  vanishes  from  the  earthly 
scene  at  this  stage  of  affairs.  Douglas  had  taken 
upon  himself  the  task  of  traveling  through  the 
North  to  arouse  the  people  to  their  danger.  He 
spoke  without  rest,  calling  upon  his  strength  until 


148  ABRAHAIVI  LINCOLN 

it  was  taxed  beyond  further  endurance.  Curiously 
enough,  in  Chicago,  the  city  that  once  put  itself 
in  mourning  in  mockery  of  his  senatorial  labors,  he 
was  taken  ill,  and  died  a  victim  of  his  love  of 
country  ere  the  first  battle  had  been  fought  between 
the  divided  sections  of  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

First  Year  of  the  War 

While  the  tap  of  the  drum  was  heard  in  every 
village  in  the  North,  and  numerous  factories  had 
begun  to  manufacture  ammunition  and  other  army 
supplies,  the  situation  of  Washington,  the  capital, 
was  reason  for  much  disquiet.  It  lay  in  Southern 
territory,  really,  and  was  poorly  defended.  One 
of  the  first  moves,  then,  was  fortification.  Regi- 
ments were  on  their  way  from  Massachusetts,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island,  but  their 
progress  appeared  all  too  slow  to  the  anxious  ones 
in  Washington.  Rumors  came  from  time  to  time 
that  Confederates  were  headed  for  the  capital  as 
well,  and  planned  to  take  it  before  it  was  protected. 
And  when  the  SLxth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts 
on  its  way  to  Washington  was  attacked  by  a  mob 
in  Baltimore  and  demoralized,  it  looked  as  if  the 
Southerners  would  have  their  way.  Furthermore, 
Maryland,  a  neutral  state,  protested  to  Lincoln 
that  no  more  soldiers  should  march  across  its  soil 
to  fight  against  her  sister  states. 

149 


I50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"We  must  have  troops,"  replied  Lincoln,  "and 
as  they  can  neither  crawl  under  Maryland  nor  fly 
over  it,  they  must  come  across  it." 

But  the  strain  of  waiting  for  these  troops  to 
appear  began  to  tell  on  the  stoutest  hearted.  Even 
the  President  lost  some  of  his  wonderful  calm. 
Pacing  the  floor,  he  was  heard  to  exclaim,  "Why 
don't  they  come !     Why  don't  they  come  !" 

On  April  25  the  Seventh  Regiment,  of  New  York, 
reached  the  capital,  and  the  city  welcomed  the 
soldiers  with  shouts  of  joy.  Shortly  thereafter, 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  without  orders, 
descended  upon  Baltimore  and  took  possession  of 
that  riotous  city. 

Besides  these  vital  questions  of  safety  and 
defense,  Lincoln  was  worried  by  a  relentless  mob 
of  office-seekers.  He  was  hardly  permitted  to 
think  over  the  national  issues  of  life  or  death,  he 
was  so  pestered  by  self-seeking  politicians.  To  a 
friend  he  remarked  one  day,  "I  am  like  a  man 
so  busy  in  letting  rooms  at  one  end  of  his  house  that 
he  cannot  stop  to  put  out  the  fire  that  is  burning 
at  the  other."  The  patience  and  tact  that  he 
exercised,  however,  with  this  flood  of  petty  office- 
seekers  appeared  inexhaustible. 

No  less  skillful  and  tactful  was  he  when  handling 
men  and  affairs  of  greater  importance,  as  testified 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR  151 

by  his  course  with  Seward's  letter  to  our  minister 
to  England.  Secretary  Seward  had  drafted  the 
dispatch  under  date  of  May  21,  i86i,  and  it  had 
to  do  with  our  relations  to  England  during  the 
crisis.  Lincoln  was  shown  it  so  that  he  might 
know  what  attitude  the  State  Department  was 
taking  toward  Europe's  leading  Power.  The  tone 
of  the  dispatch  was  too  severe  and  dictatorial, 
Lincoln  found,  and  he  made  changes  in  it  so  that 
England  could  not  possibly  take  offense.  His 
alterations,  it  is  conceded,  saved  us  from  war 
with  Great  Britain  and  France ;  for  already  those 
nations  had  expressed  sympathy  with  the  Con- 
federacy, and  Seward's  demands  would  have 
brought  about  open  antagonism,  if  not  actual 
alliance  with  the  South.  By  this  time  Secretary 
Seward  had  come  to  acknowledge  Lincoln's  superior 
judgment  and  statecraft,  and  he  felt  no  anger  or 
hurt  that  Lincoln  should  correct  his  letter  almost 
as  one  would  correct  a  schoolboy's  composition. 
Instead,  soon  after,  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  ''The 
President  is  the  best  of  us  all.'* 

Toward  the  end  of  May,  impatience  was  the 
popular  attitude  North  and  South.  The  people 
wanted  combat  to  settle  their  difTerences  at  once. 
Down  in  Dixieland  the  general  cry  was  "On  to 
Washington!"    Up  in   the  North   that  cry  was 


152  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

echoed  by  ''On  to  Richmond!"  Richmond  was 
now  the  heart  and  capital  of  the  Confederacy. 
All  through  June  the  Southern  forces  were  gather- 
ing on  the  hills  beyond  the  Potomac.  The  Con- 
federate flag  could  be  seen  waving  over  the  encamp- 
ments from  the  windows  of  the  White  House. 
Washington  was  almost  in  a  state  of  siege. 

Before  any  battle  took  place  Congress  met, 
July  4,  responding  to  the  call  for  an  extra  session 
from  the  President.  Only  the  Northern  and  Border 
states  were  represented.  The  question  of  the 
Border  states  —  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri 
—  was  a  very  delicate  one.  Both  North  and  South 
contended  for  them.  Their  support  meant  every- 
thing. 

Lincoln's  message  to  Congress  laid  stress  on  the 
necessity  for  unalterable  firmness  in  their  stand. 
He  showed  how  their  cause  was  just,  and  how  the 
South  had  been  the  aggressor  against  the  peace  and 
laws  of  the  country.  He  spoke  of  the  Border 
states  and  demonstrated  how  impossible  was  their 
attempt  at  ''armed  neutrality."  It  was  e\ddent 
they  would  have  to  cast  their  fate  with  one  side 
or  the  other.  He  requested  that  Congress  vote 
him  400,000  men  and  $400,000,000  at  least,  so 
that  he  might  end  the  conflict  without  delay. 
Congress  met  his  plea  with  generous  enthusiasm; 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR  153 

he  might  have  500,000  men  and  $500,000,000  for 
his  purposes. 

A  half  million  volunteers  were  straightway  called 
for,  to  serve  three  years,  unless  the  war  ended  sooner. 
Immediate  was  the  response  from  all  over  the  North. 

Meanwhile,  the  forces  in  the  field  were  moving  to 
meet  the  enemy.  General  Butler  took  possession 
of  Old  Point  Comfort.  Into  West  Virginia  Gen- 
eral McClellan  led  an  army  to  cut  off  any  Confed- 
erate advance  there.  Troops  in  Missouri  were 
under  the  command  of  General  Fremont,  who  had 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Mexican  "War.  The 
harbors  of  the  South  were  blockaded.  On  July 
21,  owing  to  the  urging  in  the  North,  President 
Lincoln  ordered  General  McDowell  to  attack  the 
Confederates  at  Bull  Run.  This  was  the  first 
pitched  battle  of  the  war,  and  the  opening  action 
was  in  favor  ol  the  North,  but  General  Beauregard 
being  reenforced  at  a  critical  moment  by  General 
Johnston,  the  Union  forces  were  routed,  and 
retreated  in  panic  and  confusion  from  Virginia 
soil  back  to  Washington.  Had  the  Confederates 
known  the  utter  fright  and  wreck  of  the  Federals, 
they  w^ould  have  followed  up  their  advantage  and 
perhaps  have  captured  the  capital.  Their  victory, 
as  it  stood,  elated  them,  however,  to  a  point  of 
delirious  joy. 


154  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

It  was  a  sore  blow  to  the  confident  North.  De- 
feat made  them  reahze  that  the  Federal  army  was  a 
raw  organization,  in  need  of  discipline  and  training. 
Therefore,  the  day  after  the  battle  Lincoln  sent  for 
General  McClellan  to  put  the  Union  forces  into 
shape.  McClellan  was  a  comparatively  young 
man,  and  the  unexpected  honor  of  making  him  the 
head  of  the  army  dazzled  him.     Said  he  in  a  letter, 

*'I  find  myself  in  a  new  and  strange  position  here  : 
President,  Cabinet,  General  Scott  and  all,  deferring 
to  me.  By  some  strange  operation  of  magic,  I 
seem  to  have  become  the  power  of  the  land." 

Though  the  position  in  which  he  found  himself 
fed  his  vanity,  he  did  masterful  work  in  drilling 
the  soldiers.  But  as  a  fighting  general  he  was  not 
a  success.  Nevertheless,  he  regarded  himself  as 
the  one  to  save  the  nation.  Perhaps  he  had  better 
become  dictator !  And  many  took  up  the  notion 
and  foolishly  thought  it  possible.  It  was  of  this 
ridiculous  clamor  that  Lincoln  told  the  story  of  the 
fellow  caught  in  the  thunder  shower  who  prayed  to 
the  Lord  to  send  more  light  and  less  noise. 

General  McClellan  was  short-sighted  enough  to 
suppose  himself  indispensable,  and  Lincoln's  mild 
and  wilhng  air  led  him  further  astra}'.  So  ''Little 
Mac"  kept  his  attitude  of  lordliness,  drilled  the 
troops  to  perfection,  but  was  so  maddeningly  slow 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR  155 

to  engage  the  enemy  that  Lincoln  lost  patience 
with  him,  as  is  easily  appreciated  from  the  famous 
remark  the  President  let  drop,  — 

"If  McClellan  is  through  with  the  Army,  I'd 
like  to  borrow  it  for  the  afternoon." 

Trouble  also  came  to  Lincoln  through  the 
measures  taken  by  General  Fremont  in  Missouri. 
Without  leave  or  license,  Fremont  took  it  upon 
himself  to  proclaim  slaves  free,  and  he  also  confis- 
cated property  when  he  considered  it  necessary. 
Now,  it  will  be  remembered,  that  one  of  the  main 
issues  was  to  preserve  the  Border  states  to  the 
Union,  and  Lincoln  had  long  fought  to  retain 
them.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  had  gone  so  far  as 
to  say,  — 

**I  think  to  lose  Kentucky  is  nearly  the  same  as 
to  lose  the  whole  game.  Kentucky  gone,  we  cannot 
hold  Missouri,  nor,  I  think,  Maryland.  These 
all  against  us,  and  the  job  on  our  hands  is  too  large 
for  us." 

The  Border  states,  still  being  neutral  and  also 
sanctioning  slavery,  of  course  objected  to  the  high- 
handed methods  of  Fremont.  To  complicate  the 
matter,  the  Secretary  of  War,  Simon  Cameron, 
backed  up  the  acts  of  Fremont,  and  the  Abolition- 
ists throughout  the  North  were  enthusiastic. 
Some  time  previously  General  Butler  had  declared 


156  ABR.\IL\:^I  LINCOLN 

negro  slaves,  when  taken  from  o\\Tiers  who  used 
them  for  war  purposes,  ''contraband"  —  the  same 
as  other  property.  This  had  proved  a  popular 
move ;  and  the  AboKtionists  thought  General 
Fremont's  work  better  still,  as  being  a  means  of 
ending  slavery  wherever  possible.  Lincoln,  how- 
ever, considered  it  a  grave  mistake,  and  forbade  it. 
He  would  sanction  nothing  beyond  what  was  con- 
tained in  an  Act  of  Congress,  passed  in  August,  that 
onlv  those  slaves  should  be  considered  free  who  had 
been  employed  in  militar}^  service  by  the  Con- 
federates.       -  ? 

Again  was  the  North  impatient  for  decisive 
fighting,  but  McClellan  persisted  in  drilling  and 
would  not  take  the  risk  of  battle  just  then.  By 
the  beginning  of  November,  General  Scott  had 
resigned,  and  McClellan  was  placed  in  supreme 
charge.  Once  more  the  North  fixed  its  hopes  on 
"Little  Mac,"  as  he  was  called  by  his  soldiers. 

It  looked  as  if  the  problems  of  the  President  were 
increasing  day  by  day.  The  next  thing  to  confront 
him  was  the  case  of  the  British  mail  steamship, 
Trent,  which  had  been  held  up  by  Captain  Wilkes, 
of  the  U.  S.  war  sloop,  San  Jacinto,  and  two  Con- 
federate envoys  taken  from  it.  These  men, 
Messrs.  Mason  and  SHdell,  were  on  their  way  to 
Europe  to  represent  the  Confederate  cause  abroad. 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR  157 

At  their  capture  the  North  went  wild  with  enthusi- 
asm at  the  act  of  Captain  Wilkes.  Even  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  Welles  sent  Wilkes  the  seal  of  official 
approval.  Lincoln  saw  the  matter  differently. 
He  declared  the  hold-up  unwise,  without  judg- 
ment, and  wrong.     He  said  :  — 

*'We  must  stick  to  American  principles  con- 
cerning the  rights  of  neutrals.  We  fought  Great 
Britain  for  insisting,  by  theor}^  and  practice,  on  the 
right  to  do  precisely  what  Captain  Wilkes  has 
done." 

He  alluded  to  the  chief  cause  of  the  War  of  181 2. 
Despite  the  angr\'  clamor  at  his  attitude,  the  public 
reluctantly  saw  the  justice  of  his  reasoning,  and  when 
Great  Britain  demanded  reparation  and  apology, 
they  were  given.  Lincoln  had  said,  "  One  war  at  a 
time,"  and  that  phrase  set  the  people  thinking. 
It  is  now  acknowledged  that  this  act  of  Lincoln's 
made  it  impossible  for  either  France  or  England  to 
give  aid  to  the  Southern  people. 

As  we  have  seen,  Secretary  Cameron  set  himself 
against  the  President  on  the  Fremont  issue  in 
Missouri.  Now  Fremont  was  guilty  of  further 
breach.  Without  consulting  the  President  or  sub- 
mitting his  ideas  to  any  higher  authority,  he  sent 
broadcast  his  annual  report  in  which  he  recom- 
mended that  the  slaves  be  armed  and  made  part 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  Union  forces.  Learning  of  this  flagrant  act, 
Lincoln  recalled  the  report  by  telegraph  and  had 
it  revised,  so  that  the  arming  of  negroes,  if  at- 
tempted, should  appear  a  miUtary  necessity  rather 
than  an  order  emanating  from  the  government. 

In  January,  1862,  Lincoln  removed  Cameron 
from  the  Cabinet  on  this  account  and  because  there 
was  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  the  conduct 
of  the  War  Department.  The  man  chosen  by  the 
President  to  fill  the  office  was  Edwin  Stanton,  the 
man  who,  years  ago,  had  disparaged  Lincoln  so 
bitterly  at  the  time  of  the  reaper  lawsuit.  And 
even  later  Stanton  had  violently  attacked  the 
course  of  the  government,  one  of  his  frequent 
phrases  being,  ''The  painful  imbecihty  of  Lincoln.'' 

Once  more  we  are  constrained  to  note  the  mar- 
velous amiability  and  forgiveness  of  Lincoln  in 
choosing  his  assistants ;  he  knew  Stanton  was  a 
man  of  worth  and  abiHty,  and  refused  to  let  any 
personal  feeling  influence  his  selection  of  a  man  for 
an  office.  We  must  note,  too,  that  his  choice  of 
Stanton  was  one  of  the  wisest  he  ever  made,  though 
Stanton  was  to  embarrass  and  interfere  with  the 
President,  again  and  again. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation 

Stanton  went  to  work  with  terrific  energy  to 
reorganize  the  War  Department.  Totally  dif- 
ferent from  Cameron,  he  kept  tab  of  every  detail 
of  his  office.  One  of  his  innovations  was  making 
his  quarters  the  center  of  the  telegraphic  system 
of  the  United  States,  by  which  means  he  kept 
himself  informed  of  every  move  made  in  the  capi- 
tal and  on  the  field.  Conscientious  to  a  degree, 
he  held  himself  responsible  for  all  military 
operations. 

As  the  winter  of  1862  progressed,  Stanton, 
among  his  strongest  convictions,  felt  that  Mc- 
Clellan's  course  of  inaction  was  demoralizing  the 
Union  spirit.  The  mania  of  McClellan  was  for 
more  men  —  and  yet  more.  Constantly  he  com- 
plained of  having  too  few  soldiers,  though  he  had 
one  hundred  thousand  men.  The  enemy,  he 
thought,  outnumbered  him  greatly. 

Out  of  patience,  Lincoln  ordered  that  a  forward 
movement  be  made  not  later  than  February  2 2d. 

159 


i6o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  President  offered  a  plan  for  an  advance  on 
Richmond  —  a  maneuver  having  the  backing  of 
several  military  experts.  McClellan  announced 
that  he  had  a  better  plan,  but  still  he  dallied. 
Not  until  the  Monitor ,  "  the  cheese-box  on  a  raft," 
had  met  and  defeated  the  hitherto  invincible 
Merrimac  in  the  waters  of  Hampton  Roads,  on 
March  9,  did  McClellan  make  a  move.  By  that 
time  the  Confederates  had  retreated  beyond  reach, 
and  all  McClellan's  elaborate  preparations  went 
for  naught.  His  too  great  caution  and  obstinacy 
enraged  the  North,  and  on  March  11  Lincoln  found 
it  necessary  to  deprive  him  of  supreme  command  of 
the  Union  Army;  he  was  retained,  however,  at 
the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  in  that 
position  undertook  the  disastrous  Peninsular  Cam- 
paign against  Richmond. 

PoHtically,  several  important  steps  were  taken 
in  relation  to  slavery.  In  March,  Lincoln  pro- 
posed to  Congress  that  money  be  appropriated  and 
given  to  any  state  that  would  undertake  the  gradual 
abohshment  of  slavery.  His  effort  was  futile. 
But  in  April  slavery  was  forbidden  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  It  was  also  prohibited  in  territories 
over  which  Congress  had  control,  and  on  vessels 
and  in  forts  belonging  to  the  United  States.  Lin- 
coln hesitated,  however,  about  declaring  any  sweep- 


THE  E^UNXIPATION  PROCL.\MATION     i6i 

ing  freedom  for  negroes,  and  he  was  slow  in  giving 
his  permission  to  arm  slaves  that  had  fallen  into 
Northern  hands.  He  was  fearful  lest  he  arouse 
the  enmity  of  the  Border  states.  And  members 
of  Congress  from  these  doubtful  states  he  tried  to 
argue  and  convince  into  agreeing  to  compensation 
for  slave  property.  Lincoln  also  advanced  his  pet 
scheme  of  ridding  the  country  of  negroes  by  col- 
onizing them  in  a  land  of  their  own.  But  the 
Border  states  were  deaf  to  all  such  propositions. 

Meanwhile  no  decisive  victories  came  to  encour- 
age the  North.  Farragut  had  captured  New 
Orleans,  and  an  obscure  soldier  named  Grant 
appeared  to  be  doing  deeds  of  daring  in  the  West 
—  he  had  taken  Fort  Donelson  and  sent  ringing 
through  the  land  his  phrase  of  "  unconditional 
surrender  "  —  but  McClellan  was  gaining  nothing. 
Midsummer  found  him  in  retreat  and  full  of  com- 
plaints. 

Almost  inconsolable  at  the  result  of  the  Penin- 
sular Campaign,  Lincoln,  on  July  i,  issued  a  call 
for  300,000  more  volunteers,  an  act  he  dreaded. 
On  the  whole,  the  summer  of  1862  was  the  blackest 
the  North  had  to  face.  The  outlook  promised  no 
relief.  Despairing,  the  President  went  down  to 
visit  McClellan  in  Virginia  to  see  what  could  be 
done. 


l62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

After  his  return  from  the  front,  it  is  said  that 
Lincoln  came  to  the  conclusion  that  emancipation 
of  the  negroes  was  in  reality  now  an  imperative 
war  measure.  Long  had  he  fought  this  idea, 
thinking  his  own  scheme  to  pay  slaveholders  for 
their  human  chattels  would  be  the  most  just  and 
welcome  solution  of  the  problem. 

On  July  22,  Lincoln  called  together  his  Cabinet 
and  told  them  he  was  ready  for  the  vital  step  of 
emancipation  by  proclamation.  He  asked  their 
opinion,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  had 
settled  it  in  his  own  mind.  None  of  his  counselors 
volunteered  anything  important  except  Secretary 
Seward,  who  said  he  thought  it  would  be  a  serious 
mistake  to  announce  the  freedom  of  the  negroes 
at  that  time  when  the  North  was  in  the  depths. 
Better  to  wait  for  some  noteworthy  victory,  ad- 
vised Seward,  then  cap  it  with  such  a  proclamation. 
Lincoln  was  struck  with  the  sanity  of  this  analysis 
and  said  he  would  defer  his  measure  until  a  pro- 
pitious moment  arrived. 

While  awaiting  a  victory  this  long  summer,  the 
sorely  beset  President  was  attacked  in  the  New 
York  Tribune,  by  Horace  Greeley,  who  denounced 
what  he  considered  Lincoln's  vacillation  and 
weakness.  Greeley  headed  his  editorial,  '^  The 
Prayer  of  Twenty  MilKons."     Lincoln  answered 


Phoioffraph  by  Schurf  liri>s  .  Cfiiaiijo. 

St.  Gaudens'  Statue  of  Lincoln  in  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago. 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAIMATION     163 

the  severe  criticism  in  a  lucid  and  reasonable  letter 
that  scored  Greeley,  and  took  the  people  into  his 
confidence.  It  was  a  masterly  stroke.  Lincoln's 
most  telling  words  in  that  reply  were  these :  — 

''  I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it 
the  shortest  way  under  the  Constitution.  The 
sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored  the 
nearer  the  Union  will  be  the  Union  as  it  was.  If 
there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  un- 
less they  could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I 
do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who 
would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the 
same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with 
them.  My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is 
to  save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to 
destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  with- 
out freeing  any  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I 
could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do 
it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leav- 
ing others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  What  I 
do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because 
I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union ;  and  what  I 
forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would 
help  to  save  the  Union." 

Trouble  with  military  heads  came  apace.  After 
his  visit  to  McClellan,  in  Virginia,  Lincoln  had 
made  Henry  W.  Halleck,  General  in  Chief;    and 


1 64  ABR.\HAJM  LINCOLN 

he  promoted  Pope,  who  had  won  some  battles  in 
the  West,  to  the  head  of  a  new  army  in  Virginia. 
Both  generals  recommended  that  McClellan  be 
recalled  from  his  position  on  the  Peninsula. 
Then  followed  fresh  defeats  for  the  Northern  arms. 
Generals  Pope  and  Banks  were  thwarted  by  Gen- 
erals Lee  and  Jackson,  and  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run  completed  the  Union  woes.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  Northern  cause  were  doomed. 

At  this  new  crisis  Lincoln  turned  once  more  to 
McClellan  as  an  organizing  genius,  and  ^'Little 
Mac  "  was  again  placed  in  charge  of  the  forces  in 
Washington.  Stanton  was  angry  and  fumed  at 
such  a  course  of  action,  but  Lincoln  remained 
firm  and  told  his  Secretary  of  War  that  if  he  could 
furnish  a  better  man  for  the  emergency,  to  get 
him  quick. 

September  came  and  still  no  Union  \'ictory. 
Lee  threatened  an  invasion  of  Maryland.  Was 
this  the  end?  In  haste  McClellan  was  sent  to 
meet  the  Confederate  military  genius  who  had 
concentrated  his  forces.  The  bloody  battle  of 
Antietam,  on  September  17,  was  the  result.  Every- 
thing was  in  favor  of  the  Union,  McClellan  ha\ing 
almost  twice  the  number  of  men  that  Lee  had. 
Realizing  his  danger,  Lee  gave  the  order  to  retreat. 
This    was    McClellan's    greatest    opportunity    to 


THE  KNL\NCIPATION  PROCLAMATION     165 

retrieve  his  reputation.  Eagerly,  Lincoln  tele- 
graphed McClellan  to  be  sure  not  to  let  Lee  get 
away  —  to  destroy  him.  But,  as  of  yore,  McClellan 
obeyed  his  own  judgment.  He  thought  his  troops 
were  not  in  condition  to  follow  up  the  flying  foe. 

Nevertheless,  Antietam  was  a  \'ictory  for  the 
North,  though  not  as  great  and  decisive  as  had 
been  hoped  for  and  expected.  Nothing  loath, 
Lincoln  embraced  the  propitious  moment  in  keep- 
ing with  his  intention  and  stood  ready  to  give  the 
world  the  greatest  of  state  papers  —  The  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation. 

On  September  22,  he  called  his  Cabinet  together 
for  the  auspicious  occasion.  When  they  were 
gathered  in  solemn  conclave,  the  President,  in  one 
of  his  jocose  moods,  tried  to  Hghten  the  meeting  by 
reading  a  chapter  from  Artemus  Ward's  book  of 
nonsense  stories.  Wondering  what  could  be  the 
matter  with  their  chief,  the  assembled  statesmen 
listened  respectfully  while  he  read  and  laughed. 
Out  of  courtesy,  all  except  Stanton  tried  to  express 
enjoyment  of  the  humor. 

Suddenly,  becoming  graver,  the  President  began 
on  the  real  business  in  hand,  and  told  his  council 
that  he  had  determined  on  the  step  which  he  had 
outlined  to  them  in  July.  He  said  he  had  promised 
himself   and   his   Maker   that  he   would   issue   a 


1 66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

proclamation  of  emancipation  when  a  Northern 
success  at  arms  warranted  the  issue.  Then  he 
read  to  them  his  immortal  document.  It  was  to 
be  given  to  the  world  immediately,  but  it  was  not 
to  go  into  effect  until  January  i,  1863.  On  that 
date  all  persons  held  in  bondage  in  the  Southern 
states  were  declared  free  forevermore.  This  was 
not  to  include  the  Border  states,  as  they  were 
not  in  rebelKon  against  the  Federal  authority. 

The  immediate  result  was  not  encouraging.  As 
Lincoln  said  in  a  letter  to  Vice-President  Hamlin, 
^'The  North  responds  to  the  Proclamation  suffi- 
ciently in  breath;  but  breath  alone  kills  no 
rebels."  State  elections  that  autumn  showed  a 
spirit  of  discontent  with  the  Republican  party  in 
general. 

Meanwhile  military  achievement  shed  no  glory 
on  the  Union  arms.  McClellan  was  again  demon- 
strating his  strange  incompetency  in  attacking  the 
enemy.  Lincoln  urged  him  to  no  purpose.  At 
length,  wearied  with  argument  and  desiring  some 
triumph  to  please  the  North,  Lincoln,  on  November 
7,  deprived  McClellan  of  command  and  gave 
General  Burnside  his  position.  Alas,  Burnside 
proved  a  loser,  too.  He  had  planned  an  advance 
upon  Richmond  by  way  of  Fredericksburg.  Lin- 
coln said  it  might  be  done  if  rapidly  executed. 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION     167 

Burnside  was  slow.  Lee  was  strongly  intrenched. 
On  December  13,  therefore,  the  Union  forces  suf- 
fered terrible  defeat  at  Fredericksburg,  thus  closing 
this  black  year  of  1862. 

To  take  Burnside's  place,  Lincoln  selected  "  Fight- 
ing Joe  "  Hooker,  though  it  must  be  added  that 
Burnside  was  dropped  more  because  of  quarrels 
with  subordinates  than  because  he  had  not  achieved 
victory.  The  year  closed  also  over  Cabinet  squab- 
bles. Seward  and  Chase  were  the  chief  factors. 
From  the  beginning,  Seward  had  a  multitude  of 
political  enemies,  and  fmally  a  Senate  committee 
went  so  far  as  to  request  the  President  to  make 
certain  changes  in  his  Cabinet.  By  means  of  an 
innocent  ruse,  Lincoln  brought  together  the  dis- 
contented committee  and  the  Cabinet,  that  griev- 
ances might  be  aired  openly.  It  resulted  in  both 
Chase  and  Seward  resigning.  Lincoln  shrewdly 
dechned  to  accept  either  resignation,  thus  showing 
his  impartiality,  and  both  factions  were  compelled 
to  acknowledge  his  fairness.  Lincoln  considered 
it  a  triumph  to  keep  both  men  in  his  Cabinet,  as 
they  balanced  opposing  elements.  After  this  out- 
break and  its  amicable  ending,  Lincoln  remarked  to 
a  friend,  ''  Now  I  can  ride ;  I  have  got  a  pumpkin 
in  each  bag,"  comparing  himself  to  a  farmer  riding 
with  saddle  bags,  well  balanced. 


1 68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  new  year  was  signalized  by  Lincoln  taking 
the  final  step  in  emancipation.  Tired  from  re- 
ceiving a  host  of  callers,  he  withdrew  to  sign  the 
paper  that  was  to  give  four  million  slaves  their 
liberty.  Signing  it,  his  fingers,  weary  from  much 
hand-shaking,  trembled,  and  characteristically  he 
made  some  joking  allusion  to  his  nervousness  at 
affixing  his  signature  to  the  world-famous  document. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Dark  Days 

With  the  realization  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  two  things  were  achieved ;  European 
powers  regarded  the  North  more  favorably,  and 
the  employment  of  negro  soldiers  proved  an 
advantage.  On  the  other  hand,  compulsory  army 
service  brought  riots  and  even  bloodshed,  while 
*' Copperheads"  were  rampant.  Northern  men 
who  expressed  pubHc  sympathy  with  the  Confed- 
erate cause  were  called  *' Copperheads,"  their 
badge  being  a  Liberty  head  cut  out  of  a  copper 
coin. 

The  case  of  Vallandigham  was  the  most  notorious 
of  the  kind.  For  his  treasonable  speeches  General 
Burnside  arrested  him  and  a  mihtary  tribunal 
con\'icted  him.  Loud  was  the  protest  in  the 
North  because  the  action  tended  to  curb  free 
speech.  Imprisoning  Vallandigham  was  equal  to 
Russian  despotism,  said  many  malcontents.  Lin- 
coln himself  was  doubtful  of  Burnside's  right  to 
do  as  he  had  done,  but  the  President  was  willing 

169 


I70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  share  the  blame.  Eventually,  Lincoln  disposed 
of  the  troublesome  case  in  an  unlooked-for,  clever 
manner  —  he  sent  the  culprit  South  where  lay 
his  sympathies. 

Though  Lincoln  knew  that  desertion  from  the 
ranks  was  punishable  by  death,  he  could  rarely 
resist  an  appeal  to  pardon  a  doomed  fellow.  Hun- 
dreds of  stories  are  told  of  his  tender  heart  in  this 
respect.  In  some  cases  his  generals  were  com- 
pelled to  cut  the  telegraph  lines  so  that  a  deserved 
sentence  might  be  carried  out  and  discipHne 
preserved. 

In  truth,  Lincoln  was  very  sympathetic  and 
lenient  in  his  treatment  of  his  soldiers.  He  loved 
the  boys  in  the  ranks  like  so  many  sons  and  they, 
in  turn,  were  happy  to  call  him  ''Father  Abraham." 
At  the  Soldiers'  Home,  where  he  spent  the  summer 
months,  he  was  on  friendly  footing  with  the  mem- 
bers of  his  guard,  and  occasionally  joined  them  in 
their  mess.  It  was  noticed,  too,  that  he  never 
failed  to  visit  the  wounded  and  dying  in  the  mili- 
tary hospitals,  giving  a  cheerful  word  to  a  sufferer, 
or  placing  a  gentle  hand  on  an  agonized  brow. 

The  story  of  Lincoln  and  the  sleeping  sentinel  is 
one  typical  of  his  great  heart.  This  young  soldier 
was  found  asleep  at  his  post  while  on  guard  duty 
in  the  national  capital.    A  serious,  even  criminal 


DARK  DAYS  171 

offense.  Military  authorities  decided  to  make  an 
example  of  the  boy,  and  he  was  condemned  to  die. 
All  appeals  to  the  generals  were  vain.  As  a  last 
resort,  the  boy's  friends  sought  the  President  and 
pleaded  for  his  life. 

Imagine  the  prisoner's  astonishment  when,  a 
few  hours  later.  President  Lincoln  was  ushered  into 
his  tent.  The  illustrious  visitor  asked  him  a 
number  of  questions  about  himself,  and  learned 
that  the  lad  was  from  the  mountains  of  Vermont, 
his  mother  and  father  living  on  a  farm  there.  He 
showed  Lincoln  a  picture  of  his  mother  which  he 
carried.  The  President  told  the  boy  that  he 
knew  what  it  was  to  be  a  farmhand,  and  how  hard 
it  was  for  a  fellow  of  that  kind  to  keep  awake  at 
night.  He  promised  to  pardon  him,  but  warned 
the  prisoner  that  the  bill  would  be  high.  Hearing 
the  glad  news,  the  Vermont  boy  was  overjoyed, 
and  vowed  that  his  father  would  raise  enough 
money  to  pay  in  full.  Then  Lincoln  told  him  that 
he  misunderstood  —  that  he  only  could  pay  the 
bill  by  becoming,  in  future,  one  of  the  bravest 
and  most  faithful  defenders  of  the  flag. 

Gladly,  the  young  fellow  pledged  his  life  to  his 
benefactor,  and  not  long  afterwards  he  saw  his 
first  battle.  Among  the  earHest  to  engage  the 
enemy,  he  was  one  of  the  last  to  give  up  fighting 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

when  the  retreat  had  been  sounded.  A  river  had 
to  be  crossed  in  the  retreat  and  many  wounded 
men  were  unable  to  breast  the  water.  The  Ver- 
mont lad  swam  back  and  forth  under  a  hail  of  bul- 
lets, saving  his  helpless  comrades,  until  a  shot 
ended  his  heroic  endeavor.  He  died  blessing 
Lincoln,  the  man  who  had  given  him  a  chance  to 
prove  himself  worthy  of  self-sacrifice  and  glorious 
martyrdom. 

Before  we  leave  the  consideration  of  this  merci- 
ful side  of  Lincoln's  nature,  let  us  quote  the  Presi- 
dent's letter  to  a  poor  widow,  Mrs.  Bixby,  whose 
five  sons  had  fallen  in  battle.  So  lofty  is  this 
letter  in  its  expression  of  noble  sympathy  that,  at 
the  present  moment,  it  stands  out  in  characters  of 
gold  on  the  wall  of  one  of  the  rooms  at  Oxford 
University,  England. 

^'I  have  been  shown  on  the  file  of  the  War  De- 
partment," he  wrote,  "a  statement  of  the  Adju- 
tant-General of  Massachusetts,  that  you  are  the 
mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on 
the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless 
must  be  any  word  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to 
beguile  you  from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming ; 
but  I  cannot  refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the 
consolation  that  may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of 
the  RepubKc  they  died  to  save.     I  pray  that  our 


DARK  DAYS  173 

Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your 
bereavements,  and  leave  only  the  cherished  memory 
of  the  loved  and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that 
must  be  yours  to  have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice 
upon  the  altar  of  freedom." 

From  January  to  July,  1863,  there  was  little  to 
encourage  the  hope  of  Lincoln.  The  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation  was  accomplishing  its  purpose, 
but  slowly;  faster  came  the  fury  of  the  South 
against  its  growing  effect.  Lincoln  urged  the 
arming  of  negroes  wherever  he  thought  it  prudent 
and  advisable.  To  Andrew  Johnson,  military 
governor  of  Tennessee,  he  wrote  in  March,  — 

''The  colored  population  is  the  great  available 
and  yet  unavailed  of  force  for  restoring  the  Union. 
The  bare  sight  of  fifty  thousand  armed  and  drilled 
black  soldiers  upon  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
would  end  the  rebellion  at  once ;  and  who  doubts 
that  we  can  present  that  sight  if  we  but  take  hold 
in  earnest?" 

Confederate  leaders  thought  that,  if  captured, 
the  white  generals  who  headed  negro  battalions 
ought  to  be  dealt  with  as  outlaws  and  criminals, 
though  subsequently  Jefferson  Davis  organized 
black  troops  in  imitation  of  the  North.  Up 
North,  there  was  a  group  of  men  that  demanded 
the  same  pay  and  privileges  for  the  black  soldier 


174  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

as  the  white  one  enjoyed.  Frederick  Douglass, 
the  famous  negro  orator,  went  to  Lincoln  with  such 
a  demand.  The  President  listened  patiently, 
then  pointed  out  that  the  negro  soldier  ought  to 
wait  until  he  had  proven  himself  as  vaHant  and 
intelligent  before  he  could  expect  the  same  rewards. 
Using  them  at  all  was  protested  against  in  many 
sections  of  the  Union,  Lincoln  reminded  Douglass, 
and  at  best  it  was  a  grave  experiment.  The  negro 
orator  saw  the  truth  of  these  remarks,  and  used 
his  influence  against  the  unreasonable  movement. 
All  of  which  shows  how  many  and  complicated 
were  the  causes  brought  to  the  harassed  President, 
and  how  unfailingly  ^he  met  them  with  wisdom 
and  justice. 

The  strong  hand  of  Lincoln  was  also  needed 
during  this  disturbing  period  in  the  matter  of 
privateering,  England  being  a  prime  offender  in 
assisting  the  South  in  its  depredations  on  our 
commerce.  Both  the  country  at  large  and  Congress 
were  inclined  to  take  revenge  by  authorizing  pri- 
vateers on  their  own  account,  and  an  act  was 
passed  giving  the  President  power  to  do  so  when- 
ever he  thought  fit.  But  Lincoln  never  saw  fit. 
Instead,  he  avoided  inviting  additional  warfare, 
by  refusing  to  accept  offers  of  privateers;  and 
ultimately,  through  his  firm  manipulation  of  this 


DARK  DAYS  175 

delicate  international  matter,  he  forced  England 
to  pay  full  indemnity  for  her  part  in  aiding  the 
South  to  prey  upon  our  commerce. 

While  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby  shows  his  tender- 
ness, the  one  written  to  General  Hooker,  on  plac- 
ing him  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
January  26,  1863,  shows  his  strength  and  tact 
with  a  commander  already  under  a  cloud  of  sus- 
picion.    Here  is  the  letter  :  — 

^^ General:  I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course  I  have  done  this 
upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be  sufficient  reasons ; 
and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know  that  there 
are  some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite 
satisfied  with  you. 

''I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skillful  soldier, 
which  of  course  I  like.  I  also  believe  you  do  not 
mix  politics  with  your  profession,  in  which  you  are 
right.  You  have  confidence  in  yourself,  which  is 
a  valuable,  if  not  indispensable,  quality.  You 
are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds, 
does  good  rather  than  harm.  But  I  think  that 
during  General  Burnside's  command  of  the  army 
you  have  taken  counsel  of  your  ambition,  and 
thwarted  him  as  much  as  you  could ;  in  which  you 
did  a  great  wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most 
meritorious  and  honorable  brother  oflicer.     I  have 


176  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently 
saying  that  both  the  army  and  the  government 
needed  a  dictator.  Of  course  it  was  not  for  this, 
but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the  com- 
mand. Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes 
can  set  themselves  up  as  dictators.  What  I  ask 
of  you  is  military  success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dicta- 
torship. The  government  will  support  you  to  the 
utmost  of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  commanders. 

''I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you  have 
aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criticising  their 
commander  and  withholding  confidence  from  him, 
will  now  turn  upon  you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far 
as  I  can  to  put  it  down.  Neither  you  nor  Napo- 
leon, if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good  out 
of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it. 

"And  now,  beware  of  rashness.  Beware  of 
rashness,  but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigilance 
go  forward  and  give  us  victories." 

Like  McClellan,  General  Hooker  speedily  got 
the  disorganized  army  into  fighting  shape,  but  he 
delayed  getting  it  into  action;  and  the  Southern 
warriors,  seizing  their  opportunity,  inflicted  one  of 
their  most  terrible  blows  against  the  North  in  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville,  fought  May  2-4,  1863. 
At  this  encounter  Hooker  failed  to  do_the  very 


DARK  DAYS  177 

thing  that  Lincoln  had  repeatedly  told  him  to  do  — 
to  use  all  of  his  men. 

The  news  from  the  front  was  well-nigh  crushing. 
The  President  did  not  sleep  that  night ;  he  paced 
the  floor  wearily,  trying  to  see  a  ray  of  light  in  the 
encompassing  darkness.  It  was  one  of  his  worst 
hours.  When  the  clerks  came  to  office  duties  in 
the  morning,  they  found  Lincoln  eating  his  break- 
fast at  his  desk  and  intent  upon  instructions  for 
General  Hooker  that  he  had  jotted  down  during 
his  lone  night  vigil ;  notes  that  were  to  urge  Hooker 
on  and  on  in  the  desperate  fight. 


CHAPTER  XX 

A  Big  Battle  and  a  Little  Speech 

After  the  crushing  defeat  at  Chancellorsville, 
the  victorious  Lee,  seeing  with  what  ease  he  routed 
one  general  after  another  of  the  foe's  armies  — 
McClellan,  Pope,  Burnside,  and  Hooker  —  deter- 
mined to  invade  the  North  and  carry  warfare 
right  into  Washington.  Aware  of  this  move  of 
the  Confederates,  Hooker  outhned  a  plan  for 
swooping  down  upon  the  unprotected  capital  of 
the  Confederacy  —  Richmond.  Instantly  Lincoln 
saw  the  folly  of  this  plan.     He  advised  Hooker,  — 

"If  left  to  me,  I  would  not  go  south  of  the 
Rappahannock  upon  Lee's  moving  north  of  it. 
If  you  had  Richmond  invested  to-day,  you  would 
not  be  able  to  take  it  in  twenty  days ;  meanwhile 
your  communications,  and  with  them  your  army, 
would  be  ruined.  I  think  Lee's  army,  and  not 
Richmond,  is  your  true  objective  point.  If  he 
comes  toward  the  upper  Potomac,  follow  on  his 
flank  and  on  his  inside  track,  shortening  your 
lines  while  he  lengthens  his.     Fight  him,  too,  when 

178 


A  BIG  BATTLE  AND   A  LITTLE   SPEECH      179 

opportunity  olTers.  If  he  stays  where  he  is,  fret 
him  and  fret  him." 

No  more  important  decision  could  have  been 
made  at  this  most  critical  moment.  Still,  Hooker 
lagged,  though  he  chased  the  Confederate  forces 
across  Maryland,  and  they  entered  Pennsylvania 
June  22,  to  the  horror  of  that  state.  The  cities 
of  Pittsburg  and  Philadelphia  were  panic  stricken. 
And  at  this  dire  instant,  when  the  whole  North 
was  holding  its  breath,  there  was  a  petty  quarrel 
between  the  Union  generals,  and,  annoyed  at  being 
ordered  by  Lincoln  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
Halleck,  Hooker  resigned.  Everybody  was  stunned 
at  such  a  turn.  Lincoln  and  Stanton  made  haste, 
however,  to  appoint  General  Meade  in  Hooker's 
place. 

To  his  everlasting  fame,  Meade  took  hold  of  his 
forces  with  promptitude  and  decision ;  he  led  his 
ninety  thousand  men  after  the  invaders  and  com- 
pelled them  to  turn  about  at  Gettysburg  village 
to  save  themselves.  For  the  first  three  days  of 
July,  a  gigantic  and  desperate  battle  raged  over 
fertile  fields  and  fruitful  valleys,  hosts  of  men  falling 
on  either  side.  It  was  the  decisive  battle  of  the 
war.  The  total  killed  and  wounded  of  the  Union 
soldiers  was  23,186;  that  of  the  Southern  army 
almost  as  many,  and  Lee's  loss  was  the  greater 


i8o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

because  he  had  fewer  men.  The  Confederate  ranks 
were  terribly  shattered.  But  the  Union  was 
saved ! 

Broken,  Lee  and  his  ragged  legions  retreated 
slowly  across  the  Potomac.  Now,  at  the  height 
of  its  accomplishment,  the  same  fatality  appeared 
to  follow  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  its  commander 
refused  to  pursue  the  crushed  enemy  and  deal  the 
blow  that  would  finish  the  war,  though  Meade  had 
been  reenforced  with  fresh  troops.  This  failure 
to  follow  up  an  enormous  advantage  made  Lin- 
coln as  nearly  angry  as  anything  could,  and  he 
criticized  Meade  rather  sharply.  In  answer  Meade 
expressed  satisfaction  at  the  enemy  having  been 
driven  from  Northern  soil,  at  least.  But  Lincoln 
was  impatient  of  such  an  argument  and  said,  — 

*'Why  will  not  our  generals  get  that  notion  out 
of  their  heads?    All  American  soil  is  ours !" 

That  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  was  a  truly  glorious 
one  for  the  North,  however,  for  besides  a  victory 
at  Gettysburg,  word  came  flashing  over  the  wires 
that  General  Grant  had  at  last  conquered  sweep- 
ingly  in  the  West.  A  little  more  than  a  year 
before,  this  little-heard-of  commander  had  cap- 
tured Fort  Donelson,  a  stronghold  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  since  then  he 
had  been  struggling  against  seemingly  insuperable 


A  BIG  BATTLE   AND  A  LITTLE  SPEECH      i8i 

odds  of  nature  and  Southern  intrenchment  at  Vicks- 
burg.  But  finally,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  this 
citadel  capitulated.  Grant's  campaign  had  been 
one  of  tremendous  difficulty  and  required  all 
the  courage  and  hardihood  of  real  heroes  to  win  it. 
How  Grant  ran  the  gantlet  of  the  powerful 
batteries  to  attack  the  stronghold  is  one  of  the  big 
feats  of  American  history.  In  spite  of  sickness 
among  his  men,  and  many  other  handicaps  as  well, 
he  conquered  Vicksburg,  and  the  Confederacy 
was  literally  cut  in  two ;  the  Mississippi  was  once 
more  open  as  a  highway  to  the  North.  As  Lincoln 
himself  phrased  it,  ''The  'Father  of  Waters'  again 
goes  unvexed  to  the  sea." 

Rejoicing  was  great  in  the  North,  and  the  end 
of  the  war  was  expected  in  short  order.  All  the 
more,  then,  the  people  resisted  the  "drafts,"  the 
compelling  of  men  to  join  the  army.  But  losses 
had  been  tremendous,  and  as  volunteering  had 
almost  stopped,  the  government  was  forced  to  take 
drastic  measures.  If  a  man  were  rich  enough, 
however,  he  might  "buy  off"  for  three  hundred 
dollars  instead  of  serving  his  time  of  three  years. 
This  caused  bitter  feeling  among  the  poor,  especially 
in  New  York  City,  and  in  1863,  from  July  13  to  16, 
there  were  mobs  and  riots  which  resulted  in  terror 
and  death.     Ten  thousand  troops  were  called  out 


1 82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  quell  the  disturbance  in  the  metropoKs.  Such 
a  state  of  affairs  sorely  troubled  Lincoln,  and  it 
was  another  grief  added  to  the  many  he  already 
bore.  Fortunately,  these  conditions  soon  abated, 
and  in  many  parts  of  the  country  volunteering  was 
resumed  when  the  Northern  victories  gave  a  new 
glory  to  the  standard  of  the  Union.  Autumn 
saw  Grant  winning  notable  successes  around 
Chattanooga.  The  battle  of  Lookout  Mountain 
was  fought  and  won  "in  the  clouds,"  and  the 
victory  on  Missionary  Ridge  was  a  thrilKng 
achievement. 

Crowning  all  the  inspiriting  midsummer  of  1863 
came  the  dedication  of  a  national  burying-ground 
at  Gettysburg,  where  the  war  had  reached  its  bloody 
crisis  and  where  so  many  of  our  bravest  soldiers 
had  given  up  their  lives.  A  multitude  met  on 
November  19  to  witness  the  solemn  ceremonies. 
Edward  Everett,  the  celebrated  New  England  ora- 
tor, was  to  be  the  chief  speaker  of  the  day,  a 
large  chorus  of  voices  was  to  render  sacred  music, 
and  President  Lincoln  was  expected  to  make  "a 
few  appropriate  remarks." 

Everett  had  prepared  a  two-hour  speech  and  it 
was  delivered  with  all  the  eloquence  and  passion 
of  which  its  author  was  capable.  Lincoln  had 
hastily  jotted  down  his  few  remarks,  and  almost 


THE  "  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS  "  IN  LINCOLN'S  HANDWRITING 


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A  BIG   BATTLE  AND   A  LITTLE   SPEECH      183 

up  to  the  last  moment,  he  had  been  occupied  in 
shaping  his  ideas  on  scraps  of  paper.  When  it 
came  his  turn  to  address  the  throng,  they  saw  a 
gaunt,  care-worn  man  rise  on  the  platform,  his 
face  the  very  semblance  of  sadness,  and  before 
they  realized  it  he  had  finished  speaking  and  sat 
down  again. 

A  feeling  of  disappointment  followed.  All  had 
looked  for  something  more  inspiring  from  him, 
something  of  greater  style  and  impressiveness. 
Secretary  Seward,  one  of  those  seated  on  the  plat- 
form, addressing  Everett,  said, 

*'He  has  made  a  failure,  and  I  am  sorry  for  it. 
His  speech  was  not  equal  to  him." 

Lincoln  himself  felt  that  he  had  failed  miserably 
in  his  effort.  But  that  speech  was  to  be  acclaimed 
a  masterpiece  equal  to  any  classic  of  its  kind, 
comparable  indeed  to  the  immortal  efforts  of 
the  Greek  orators.  This  noble  address,  enshrined 
to-day  in  the  hearts  of  countless  thousands,  is  so 
fine  and  flawless,  that  to  alter  a  single  word 
would  be  to  mar  its  perfection.  It  is  here  given 
in  full :  — 

*' Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  on  this  continent,  a  new  nation, 
conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  prop- 
osition that  all  men  are  created  equal. 


i84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


(C' 


Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  test- 
ing whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived 
and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We  have  come 
to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field,  as  a  final  resting- 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  Hves  that  that 
nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and 
proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

*'But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  — 
we  cannot  consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow  —  this 
ground.  The  brave  men,  Hving  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our 
poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here, 
but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is 
for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to 
the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for 
us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining 
before  us  —  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they 
gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we 
here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have 
died  in  vain;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth.'' 


A  BIG  BATTLE  AND   A  LITTLE   SPEECH      185 

Seeing  it  in  print,  many  were  quick  to  recognize 
its  greatness  that  had  not  realized  its  perfection 
when  delivered  from  Lincoln's  lips.  First  among 
these  was  Everett,  who  paid  the  President  a  grace- 
ful tribute  of  appreciation. 

''I  should  be  glad,"  he  wrote,  *'if  I  could  flatter 
myself  that  I  came  as  near  the  central  idea  of 
the  occasion  in  two  hours  as  you  did  in  two  min- 
utes." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Intimate  Glimpses 

Elevated  to  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of 
his  countrymen,  Abraham  Lincoln  remained  the 
same  in  word  and  manner.  There  was  no  change 
in  the  outward  man  from  the  friendly  neighbor  with 
a  ''howd'y"  for  all  in  Springfield,  to  the  ruler  of 
twenty  millions  in  the  White  House,  with  a  great 
army  at  his  command.  No  man  ever  bore  more 
simply  such  honor  and  such  power. 

As  one  of  Springfield's  leading  citizens,  it  was 
no  unusual  sight  to  see  hun  chopping  his  own  wood, 
milking  his  cow,  going  to  market,  a  basket  on  his 
arm,  or  working  about  his  stable ;  and,  without 
a  thought  as  to  how  it  might  strike  others,  he 
would  carry  his  boys  on  his  back  or  sprawl  on  the 
floor  with  them  in  some  game.  Indeed,  he  always 
deUghted  in  the  company  of  children,  whether 
they  were  his  own  or  not.  The  anecdote  of  the 
Httle  girl  who  asked  him  to  let  his  whiskers  grow, 
so  that  he  would  look  better,  is  an  instance  that 
shows  his  big,  childlike  heart. 

i86 


INTBUTE   GLIMPSES  187 

Just  before  his  election  this  Httle  girl  wrote  him 
a  letter  pointing  out  to  him  the  advantage  of 
whiskers.  Lincoln,  no  doubt  smiUng  boyishly  to 
himself,  answered  the  child  as  follows :  — 

**My  dear  little  Miss:  Your  very  agreeable 
letter  of  the  fifteenth  is  received.  I  regret  the 
necessity  of  saying  I  have  no  daughter.  I  have 
three  sons,  one  seventeen,  one  nine,  and  one  seven 
years  of  age.  They,  with  their  mother,  constitute 
my  whole  family.  As  to  the  whiskers,  never  having 
worn  any,  do  you  not  think  people  would  call  it 
a  piece  of  silly  affectation  if  I  were  to  begin  now?" 

But  he  evidently  thought  better  of  it,  for  there 
came  a  time  when  he  let  his  whiskers  grow,  and 
while  stopping  at  a  town  on  his  way  to  be  inaugu- 
rated, he  faced  a  crowd  and  asked  for  the  little 
girl.  Miss  Grace  Bedell.  She  was  there,  sure 
enough,  and  was  brought  forward  to  meet  her 
idol.  Lincoln  kissed  her  and  called  her  attention 
to  his  brand-new  whiskers.  We  may  picture  her 
embarrassment  and  deUght. 

At  the  White  House  he  did  not  give  up  his  coun- 
try habits.  He  rose  with  the  dawn,  and  as  early 
as  six  o'clock  he  would  be  seen  at  the  gate  of  the 
White  House  impatiently  craning  his  neck  for  sight 
of  the  newsboy.  Regulation  clothes  he  detested, 
and  whenever  it  might  properly  be  done,  he  would 


1 88  ABRAH.\^I  LINCOLN 

don  his  dressing-gown  and  put  on  slippers.  Further- 
more, he  was  fond  of  cocking  his  feet  above  his 
head  and  ahnost  sitting  on  his  shoulder-blades! 
Of  course,  only  in  his  resting  hours  and  in  his  own 
particular  rooms  would  such  a  sight  present  itself. 
At  times,  when  full  dress  and  dignified  manners 
were  required,  Lincoln  could  comply  with  the  forms 
of  etiquette,  though  in  his  heart  he  was  bored  at 
social  functions. 

The  servants  in  the  White  House  were  never  un- 
der rigid  control.  They  seemed  to  come  and  go 
as  they  pleased,  even  going  to  the  length  of  inter- 
rupting state  conferences  to  deHver  some  unim- 
portant message  from  Mrs.  Lincoln.  President 
Lincoln  stood  their  free  and  easy  attitude  with 
good  nature  and  never  rebuffed  them.  Once,  it 
is  said,  a  caller  on  a  Sunday  morning  rang  the 
White  House  bell  vainly  until,  tiring  of  recei\ang 
no  response,  he  walked  in.  Still  not  a  servant  was 
in  sight  to  announce  the  visitor.  Taking  his 
courage  in  hand,  he  knocked  on  the  President's 
door,  and  explained  his  extraordinary  reception 
to  Lincoln.  ''Oh,"  laughed  the  head  of  the  nation, 
"the  boys  are  all  out  this  morning." 

His  children,  "Tad"  and  "WiUie,"  took  full 
possession  of  the  White  House  when  the  family 
moved  there.    "Tad"  or  Thomas  was  eight  and 


INTIMATE   GLIMPSES  189 

Willie  ten  years  old  when  they  went  to  live  in  the 
historic  mansion.  Together  they  played  boister- 
ously through  the  stately  halls  and  rooms.  Each 
of  them  had  a  pet  goat  hitched  to  a  little  wagon 
that  they  drove  and  raced.  Ponies  were  theirs, 
too,  and  the  little  lads  had  lots  of  fun,  heedless  of 
the  terrible  shadow  hanging  over  their  father. 
Often  it  was  only  their  merry  voices  echoing  about 
the  place  that  relieved  the  gloom  in  the  hearts  of 
those  anxious  ones  in  the  White  House.  Lincoln 
loved  to  hear  them  and  have  them  swoop  down 
on  him  suddenly  with  joyous  proposals  to  frolic. 
And  grave  senators  and  elegant  gentlemen  were 
occasionally  shocked  to  see  the  head  of  the  nation 
playing  with  his  boys  as  if  he  were  one  of  them, 
entering  their  ball  game  with  zest  and  running 
bases  like  a  long-legged,  overgrown  youngster. 

Willie  Lincoln  died  in  February,  1862,  just 
when  everything  else  seemed  blackest,  and  the 
loss  was  well-nigh  unbearable  for  the  afflicted 
father,  while  it  almost  affected  the  reason  of  the 
bereaved  mother.  Lincoln  had  all  he  could  do  to 
master  that  melancholy  which  was  always  ready 
to  take  possession  of  him.  But  his  other  respon- 
sibilities roused  his  courage  beyond  despair. 
Tad,  after  this  sorrow,  became  the  light  of  his 
father's  eyes.     The  little  fellow  was  permitted  all 


I  go  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

sorts  of  liberties.  He  was  allowed  to  seek  out  his 
father  and  demand  attention,  no  matter  what  task 
of  state  might  be  occupying  the  President;  and 
Lincoln  only  laughed  indulgently  at  any  complaint 
against  the  child.  His  own  childhood  had  been  so 
full  of  hard  work  that  he  appeared  resolved  that 
his  boy's  life  should  be  filled  to  overflowing  with 
play  and  gladness. 

Whenever  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Tad  were  absent 
from  home  on  a  trip  or  visit  for  any  length  of  time, 
Lincoln,  in  sending  messages  to  his  wife,  never  for- 
got to  include  news  of  importance  to  Tad.  The 
goats  occupied  the  main  position  in  these  telegrams. 
Once  he  telegraphed  that,  ''Nanny  was  found  rest- 
ing herself  and  chewing  her  little  cud  in  the  middle 
of  Tad's  bed."  Again,  the  information  was,  ''Tell 
Tad  the  goats  and  father  are  very  well  —  especially 
the  goats." 

Tad  somehow  succeeded  in  making  Secretary 
Stanton  his  slaye.  Usually  Stanton  was  stern, 
abrupt,  and  full  of  business,  but  he  did  so  far 
forget  himself  one  day  as  to  make  Tad  a  lieutenant 
in  the  army.  Tad  took  his  appointment  with  due 
respect  and  dignity,  and  managed  to  get  a  suitable 
uniform  for  his  rank.  He  drilled  and  messed  with 
his  father's  guard  of  soldiers,  and,  once  exercising 
his  authority,  dismissed  them  from  duty.    A  new 


INTIMATE   GLIMPSES  191 

guard  was  to  be  organized  by  him  out  of  the  White 
House  laborers,  he  decided.  Some  one  brought  it 
to  the  President's  notice  as  a  serious  matter. 
Lincohi  saw  only  the  amusing  side  of  the  affair. 

Another  trait  of  the  little  boy  was  one  that  re- 
minded people  of  his  father.  Tad  would  get  up 
fairs  for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  and  soHcit 
support.  He  might  raise  a  racket  playing  ''Min- 
strel Show"  in  the  attic  in  a  morning,  but  perhaps 
the  same  afternoon  would  find  him  running  a 
charitable  "fair,"  or  going  among  his  father's 
crowd  of  callers,  finding  out  their  troubles,  and 
then  importantly  leading  to  the  President  those 
that  had  touched  his  sensibilities. 

It  was  Tad's  habit  to  report  each  evening  to  his 
father  all  his  interests  and  activities  of  the  day. 
Laying  aside  his  cares  and  labors,  Lincoln  would 
listen  to  the  childish  confidences,  nodding  gravely 
over  a  vital  act,  or  laughing  at  some  ridiculous 
happening.  Generally,  before  he  was  half  through 
his  recital,  Tad  fell  asleep,  usually  on  the  floor, 
when  the  father  would  gather  up  his  precious  bur- 
den and  carry  him  to  bed. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  crowd  of  callers  that 
besieged  the  White  House.  Never  before  or  since 
has  such  a  stream  of  humanity,  bearing  all  sorts  of 
complaints  or  seeking  favors,  deluged  the  home  of 


192  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

our  chief  executive.  They  were  welcome  to  see 
the  President  several  days  of  the  week,  in  the  early 
afternoon,  when  he  had  finished  with  senators  and 
other  important  personages.  Lincoln  loved  these 
hours  when  he  met  the  people  face  to  face.  He 
used  to  refer  to  these  informal  receptions  as  his 
^'public  opinion  baths."  The  crowd  was  as  a 
rule  received  by  him  while  seated  in  an  armchair, 
and  on  a  table  close  at  hand  rested  a  Bible  —  a 
book  which  he  read  more  and  more  as  he  grew 
older. 

All  sorts  of  people  sought  him  in  this  way.  There 
were  endless  office-seekers,  relatives  of  soldiers 
caught  in  the  toils  of  war,  cranks  who  knew  the 
way  to  end  the  war  at  once,  and  enthusiastic  in- 
ventors wishing  support  of  wild  projects.  Many 
women,  widows  and  orphans  of  dead  soldiers,  were 
in  this  assemblage  of  pleaders.  To  every  one 
Lincoln  listened  courteously  and  kindly,  having  a 
sympathetic  word  for  one,  a  funny  yarn  for  another, 
and  for  all  any  real  help  that  lay  in  his  power. 

Two  women  one  day  begged  him  to  release  their 
husbands  from  jail ;  the  men  were  needed  by  their 
families;  they  had  been  arrested  for  refusing  to 
be  drafted.  After  a  moment's  thought,  the 
President  reached  for  his  pen  and  signed  the  order 
of  release,  also  setting  free  other  men  jailed  for  the 


INTIMATE  GLIMPSES  193 

same  reason.  One  of  the  women  was  aged.  She 
turned  to  the  man  who  had  granted  her  wish. 
With  deep  emotion  she  said,  ''I  shall  probably 
never  see  you  again  until  we  meet  in  heaven." 

Lincoln  was  touched  by  the  simple  words  of 
faith.  To  his  friend  Joshua  Speed,  who  happened 
to  be  standing  near,  he  said  that  the  old  woman's 
remark  had  gladdened  him  more  than  anything 
else  that  had  happened  that  day.  Then  he  added 
those  words  that  were  so  beautiful  and  true  of 
himself.  ''Die  when  I  may,"  he  said,  ''I  want  it 
said  of  me  by  those  who  knew  me  best,  that  I 
always  plucked  a  thistle  and  planted  a  flower 
where  I  thought  a  flower  would  grow." 

Sometimes  the  old  joke-telling  Lincoln  would 
throw  off  his  weight  of  responsibility,  and  for  an 
evening,  surrounded  by  a  few  kindred  spirits,  he 
would  laugh  and  spin  yarns  by  the  hour.  Such 
a  light  hour  was  given  him  when  Dennis  Hanks,  his 
old  chum  and  fellow  farm-laborer,  came  to  see 
him  in  Washington,  to  plead  for  some  friends  of 
his  who  had  been  locked  up  as  Copperheads. 

Dennis  Hanks  came  all  togged  out  in  his  best 
Sunday  clothes  to  call  on  his  old  friend,  now  the 
first  man  of  the  land.  He  was  naturally  nervous 
and  awkward  in  his  manner  of  making  known  his 
desire  to  the  guards  who  felt  like  laughing  at  the 


194  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

rustic  visitor.  However,  Dennis  made  his  way 
past  the  gibing  fellows  and  was  highly  gratified  to 
find  "Abe"  the  same  as  ever,  and  deHghted  to 
greet  him.  Indeed,  the  President  insisted  on 
Dennis  spending  a  lot  of  time  with  him,  and  they 
swapped  old-time  memories  of  happy  days.  Of 
course,  Lincoln  granted  his  friend's  request  for 
pardon  of  the  offenders  in  Illinois,  and  sent  him 
home  the  proud  possessor  of  a  silver  watch,  en- 
graved with  words  commemorating  the  occasion. 

Careless  about  his  appearance  generally,  Lincoln 
was  equally  careless  about  his  eating  and  the  rou- 
tine of  business.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  him 
to  forget  to  come  to  meals,  and  after  he  had  eaten, 
it  was  often  difficult  for  him  to  recall  what  he  had 
taken.  His  indifference  to  petty  office  details 
drove  others  to  distraction.  Letters  that  required 
an  answer  he  used  to  keep  in  his  tall  hat.  If  he 
got  a  new  hat,  or  changed  to  another,  it  would  be 
likely  that  his  correspondence  suffered!  It  is  on 
record  that  he  once  apologized  for  not  replying  to 
a  letter  because  it  was  in  his  old  hat.  When  he 
was  practicing  law,  it  was  customary  for  him  to 
bundle  miscellaneous  memoranda  together,  tie 
them  up  and  label  the  packet,  — 

*' When  you  can't  find  it  anywhere  else,  look  into 
this." 


INTIMATE  GLIMPSES  195 

Lincoln  relied  on  his  retentive  and  accurate 
memory.  Card  indexes  and  files  were  not  for  him. 
But  he  never  forgot  the  principal  points  or  facts 
in  a  matter.  Great  issues  were  clear  to  him,  and 
his  mind  would  sweep  aside  all  except  the  vital 
parts.  Woe  betide  the  individual  who  tried  to 
gloss  over  a  moral  issue  or  becloud  an  honest 
argument.  In  such  cases  Lincoln's  mind  was  like 
an  X-ray,  penetrating  to  the  very  soul  of  things. 

He  never  found  fault  with  subordinates,  and 
rather  than  demand  a  service  of  them  would 
perform  a  task  himself.  Thus  he  would  work 
early  and  late,  sparing  everybody  but  himself. 

Social  functions  must  have  wearied  him  more 
than  all  his  other  labors  put  together,  yet  no  one 
was  more  patient  and  courteous,  tolerating  bores 
and  putting  at  ease  those  who  were  awkward  and 
tongue-tied  in  his  presence.  While  his  voice  and 
wit  were  with  the  briUiant  company,  his  heart 
and  soul  were  out  with  "the  boys  in  blue"  fighting 
on  bloody  battlefields,  or  his  mind  would  plunge 
into  the  ineffable  sadness  ever  ready  to  infold  him. 
A  French  marquis  described  such  remarkable 
changes  in  the  face  of  the  President  one  evening 
during  a  reception.  The  nobleman  counted  twenty 
alterations  of  countenance,  from  animated  gayety 
to  sudden,  profound  melancholy.     More  than  one 


196  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

commentator  has  thought  Lincohi  wore  the  cloak 
of  humor  to  hide  his  natural  sadness. 

In  no  home  was  the  ravage  and  tragedy  of  the 
war  felt  more  keenly  than  in  the  Lincoln  family  at 
the  White  House.  Lincoln  himself  had  a  number 
of  dear  friends  fighting  for  the  North,  as  well  as 
an  equal  number  on  the  Southern  side.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  President  was  born  a  South- 
erner, and  that  his  wife  was  a  Kentuckian.  Both 
of  them  suffered  personal  griefs  as  the  armies 
clashed.  Several  of  Lincoln's  dearest  friends  were 
killed  in  battle,  and  his  heart  was  torn  by  deaths 
in  Confederate  and  Union  ranks  equally.  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  on  the  other  hand,  had  brothers  fight- 
ing on  the  Southern  side.  Two  of  them  were 
killed  on  the  field  of  battle.  Her  favorite  brother 
lay  dying  at  Shiloh  while  she  had  to  open  a  grand 
ball  in  honor  of  that  Union  victory ! 

Lincoln  had  no  vacations,  but  in  the  summer 
time  he  Hved  in  a  cooler  retreat  than  the  White 
House.  This  was  the  Soldiers'  Home,  a  short 
distance  out  of  Washington.  It  was  a  famihar 
sight  to  see  him  driving  between  the  two  places, 
a  mounted  guard  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  cavalry 
attending  him,  their  swords  drawn  and  upright. 
Stanton  would  insist  on  these  protectors  though 
Lincoln  complained  of  them.     ''They  make  such 


From  iht  ('(/lit  clion  of  Aim  ricana  of  h'rtdi  rick  //.  Mi  strri ,  \cir  York. 

Mary  Todd  Lincoln. 
The  Lady  uf  the  White  House. 


INTIMATE   GLniPSES  197 

a  noise  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  I  cannot  hear  our- 
selves talk,"  he  would  protest. 

To  walk  or  sit  under  the  stars  in  the  cool  of  the 
evening  was  one  of  Lincoln's  habits.  He  loved  to 
get  away  from  the  crowded,  maddening  world  and 
meditate  in  the  dark.  Frequently  he  went  to  a 
little  mall  adjoining  the  White  House,  there  to 
think  and  perhaps  to  pray.  The  sculptor,  Bor- 
glum,  has  conceived  him  so  in  his  ''Lonely  Lincoln," 
which  is  a  very  human  monument  that  gives  an 
enviable  touch  to  the  city  of  Newark,  New  Jersey. 
Lincoln  would  have  commended  the  spirit  of  the 
sculptor,  for  he  always  expressed  an  admiration  for 
the  lowlier  aspects  of  life,  and  once  told  of  a  dream 
to  illustrate  this  trait  of  his.  In  this  dream  he 
heard  himself  criticized  as  being  a  common-look- 
ing man,  and  turning  to  the  speaker  the  President 
rebuked  him,  saying,  — 

''Friend,  the  Lord  prefers  common-looking 
people;   that  is  why  he  made  so  many  of  them." 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Tension  and  Reelection 

Before  the  year  1863  ended,  Lincoln,  in  his 
annual  message,  again  betrayed  his  never-sleeping 
desire  to  forgive  his  enemies.  He  made  it  known 
that  he  was  ready  to  pardon  all  rebels,  with  the 
exception  of  certain  offenders,  provided  they  took 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  the  Union, 
and  the  proclamation  concerning  slavery.  Also, 
h6  outlined  a  plan  of  restoring  to  the  Union  the 
seceded  states  that  might  wish  to  come  in.  Much 
opposition  in  congress  and  throughout  the  North 
resulted.  They  held  that  the  President  was  going 
too  far.  His  authority,  they  contended,  was  not 
great  enough  to  permit  him  to  make  such  a 
declaration.  As  a  consequence  of  this  and  the 
prospect  of  unabated  warfare,  Lincoln's  renomina- 
tion  looked  extremely  doubtful.  Pohticians  were 
especially  set  against  him.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Chase,  counted  himself  a  possible  rival 
candidate,  and  after  injuring  Lincoln's  cause  as 
much  as  he  could,  he  resigned  from  the  Cabinet 

198 


TENSION  AND  REELECTION  199 

because  his  disloyalty  became  a  common  topic  of 
conversation.  It  is  strange  to  note  that  the  most 
powerful  men  of  Lincoln's  Cabinet  all  tried  thwart- 
ing or  rivaling  him  —  always  to  their  shame  and 
defeat  in  the  end.  And  Chase  was  no  exception, 
for,  when  the  time  for  nomination  came,  his  own 
state,  Ohio,  preferred  Lincoln. 

Perhaps  the  year  of  1864  was  harder  then  any 
on  Lincoln.  Everything  depended  on  the  army 
now.  The  victories  of  1863  had  buoyed  the  people 
up  with  false  hopes  of  the  immediate  cessation  of 
war.  Under  Grant,  who  had  been  created  Com- 
mander in  Chief,  they  expected  speedy  triumph 
over  the  Confederates  in  the  spring.  Instead, 
the  Southern  generals,  Lee  and  Johnston,  proved 
that  they  possessed  the  strength  and  purpose  of 
desperation  and  decision.  Frightful  slaughter  was 
the  outcome  of  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  and  Cold  Harbor.  The  losses  of 
Grant  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  men  in  little 
more  than  a  month.  Yet  he  sent  forth  his  ringing 
slogan  to  hearten  the  gloomy  North  :  — 

*'/  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all 
summer.''^ 

Then  he  settled  down  to  besiege  Petersburg,  come 
what  might.     General  Sherman,  the  other  leader 


200  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

depended  upon,  was  in  Georgia,  fighting  his  way 
heroically,  every  foot  of  progress  costing  precious 
blood. 

Among  the  political  leaders  it  seemed  as  if  any  one 
save  Lincoln  was  preferred  as  a  candidate  for  the 
next  presidential  election ;  still,  the  ''plain  people'^ 
did  not  swerve  from  their  support  of  the  man  at  the 
helm ;  and  largely  through  their  firmness  and  devo- 
tion he  was  renominated  at  the  Baltimore  Con- 
vention, June  8,  1864,  the  RepubHcans  dropping 
their  party  name  and  choosing  him  on  what  was 
called  the  Union  ticket,  with  Andrew  Johnson,  a 
Democrat  of  Tennessee,  for  Vice-President.  Learn- 
ing this,  a  delegation  of  admirers  called  at  the 
White  House  to  express  its  pleasure  at  the  outcome. 
With  a  look  of  quizzical  seriousness  on  his  face, 
Lincoln  answered :  — 

"I  do  not  allow  myself  to  suppose  that  either 
the  Convention  or  the  League  have  concluded 
that  I  am  either  the  greatest  or  the  best  man  in 
America,  but  rather  they  have  concluded  it  is  not 
best  to  swap  horses  while  crossing  the  river,  and 
have  further  concluded  that  I  am  not  so  poor  a 
horse  that  they  might  not  make  a  botch  of  it  in 
trying  to  swap." 

His  quaint  and  homely  words  caught  the  popular 
fancy,  and  on  all  sides  was  echoed  and  reechoed 


TENSION  AND   REELECTION  201 

the  phrase,  ''Don't  swap  horses  while  crossing  a 
river,"  which  in  this  fashion  was  molded  into  a 
campaign  watchword.  But  doubtful  days  were 
hard  upon  these  loyal  supporters.  All  summer 
the  war  went  on  without  sign  of  breaking.  The 
Southerners  bore  the  favor  of  Fortune,  apparently. 
Once  they  came  up  as  far  as  the  environs  of  the 
capital,  and  at  the  time  Washington  was  almost 
defenseless.  Terror  reigned,  and  a  steamer  was 
prepared  to  carry  off  the  President  and  his  Cabinet 
to  safety  should  Confederates  descend  upon  the 
city.  Fortunately,  help  came  from  Grant  at  the 
proper  moment  and  the  enemy  fled. 

Midsummer  was  with  them  and  still  no  victory 
to  cheer  the  North.  Complaint  was  general.  It 
would  seem  the  worst  time  possible  to  call  for  more 
men  to  fight,  yet  Lincoln  determined  to  do  so. 
Political  well-wishers  told  him  it  would  ruin  his 
chances  of  reelection.     To  this  advice  he  replied, 

"It  is  not  a  personal  question  at  all.  It  matters 
not  what  becomes  of  me.  We  must  have  men.  If 
I  go  down,  I  intend  to  go  like  the  Cmnbcrland, 
with  my  colors  flying." 

So  the  President  had  the  courage  to  call  for 
500,000  men,  and,  furthermore,  proclaimed  that 
if  they  were  not  supplied  by  the  various  states 
by  September,  it  would  be  necessary  to  draft  them. 


202  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

As  the  summer  merged  into  August  unmarked 
by  a  Union  victory,  Lincoln  saw  nothing  but 
failure  ahead.  The  Democrats  held  their  conven- 
tion on  August  31,  and  nominated  McClellan  for 
President.  In  their  platform  they  declared  that 
the  time  had  come  to  end  the  terrible  war  by  means 
of  peaceful  agreement;  that  four  years  of  strife 
and  bloodshed  had  failed  to  accompHsh  the  de- 
sired end.  And  many  prominent  Republicans  be- 
lieved the  same  thing.  When  Lincoln  heard  of 
an  attempt  to  drive  out  of  the  army  one  of  his 
generals  for  speaking  in  favor  of  McClellan,  he 
prevented  the  deed,  saying, — 

"Supporting  General  McClellan  for  the  presi- 
dency is  not  violation  of  army  regulations,  and 
as  a  question  of  taste  in  choosing  between  him  and 
me  —  well,  I'm  the  longest,  but  he's  better- 
looking." 

Even  Lincoln  agreed  with  those  who  foretold 
his  failure  to  gain  reelection.  Many  thought  that 
he  ought  to  withdraw  from  the  ticket  and  allow 
another  to  take  his  place.  So  convinced  was 
Lincoln  of  a  coming  defeat  that  he  sat  down  one 
morning  in  August  and  penned  a  resolution  which 
he  had  made  in  his  own  heart.     It  ran  as  follows : 

*'This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems 
exceedingly  probable  that  this  administration  will 


TENSION  AND   REELECTION  203 

not  be  reelected.  Then  it  will  be  my  duty  to 
so  cooperate  with  the  President-elect  as  to  save 
the  Union  between  the  election  and  the  inaugura- 
tion, as  he  will  have  secured  the  election  on  such 
ground  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  afterwards.'' 

But  his  forebodings  were  to  be  happily  dis- 
pelled. In  September  the  country  was  electrified 
by  the  sweeping  victories  of  Sherman,  who  took 
Atlanta,  and  by  the  prowess  of  Sheridan  in  the 
Shenandoah.  Lincoln  called  on  the  people  to  give 
public  thanks.  Rejoicing  was  uppermost  in  the 
hearts  of  the  North. 

Triumph  at  the  polls  now  appeared  certain  for 
Lincoln.  Success  blessing  the  Federal  arms  also 
shed  an  air  of  glory  around  him.  Election  returns 
in  November  gave  him  a  majority  of  about  half  a 
milhon  votes.  Lincoln  was  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment waiting  the  returns  and  filling  in  idle  moments 
by  reading  the  amusing  yarns  of  Petroleum  V. 
Nasby.  In  times  of  deep  feeling  and  tensity  it  re- 
lieved him  to  divert  his  mind  with  jokes  and  humor, 
as  we  have  seen  again  and  again  in  his  career. 

When  his  reelection  was  assured,  his  first  thought 
was  of  his  wife,  as  it  had  been  on  the  former  occa- 
sion.    Turning  to  a  subordinate,  he  exclaimed,  — 

''Send  the  word  over  to  Madam;  she  will  be 
more  interested  than  I  am." 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

As  the  days  passed,  further  victories  crowned 
the  arms  of  the  Union.  Sheridan  took  possession 
of  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  Sherman  swept  trium- 
phantly to  the  sea,  and  General  Thomas  routed 
the  Confederates  in  Tennessee.  The  cause  of 
Secession  was  doomed. 

Victory  did  not  make  Lincoln  proud,  nor  did  it 
cause  him  to  think  of  the  so-called  sweets  of  re- 
venge. All  he  felt  was  sorrow  and  sympathy  for 
his  brothers  in  the  South.  He  was  anxious  to 
bring  peace  speedily  and  to  be  as  easy  and  as  gentle 
with  the  defeated  ones  as  was  possible.  To  this 
end  he  argued  with  his  Cabinet  and  with  Congress, 
for  neither  of  these  bodies  was  incUned  to  leniency. 
Moreover,  he  consented  to  meet  representatives 
of  the  Confederate  government  in  Hampton 
Roads,  headed  by  their  vice-president,  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  to  talk  over  plans  for  peace  without 
further  strife.  In  agreeing  to  meet  these  emis- 
saries he  cared  nothing  for  his  dignity  or  his 
pride  —  all  he  desired  was  an  end  to  the  horrors 
of  war.  But  he  was  disappointed  in  this  confer- 
ence, for  the  Confederate  delegates  insisted  upon 
recognition  of  their  government  as  the  first  issue 
in  the  matter  of  conciliation.  The  President 
could  not  recognize  any  other  nation  set  up  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States.    One  of  the 


TENSION  AND   REELECTION  205 

representatives,  in  argument,  used  Charles  I.  of 
England  as  an  example  for  Lincoln  in  his  negotia- 
tions.    To  this  Lincoln  dryly  remarked,  — 

''All  I  distinctly  recollect  about  Charles  I.  is 
that  he  lost  his  head  !'^ 

This  attempt  at  peace,  February  3,  was  a  com- 
plete fizzle.  Arms  really  had  to  settle  the  differ- 
ences between  the  divided  nation.  Still,  Lincoln 
persisted  in  his  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  cessa- 
tion of  bloodshed.  After  his  return  from  the 
Hampton  conference,  he  planned  to  submit  to 
Congress  a  scheme  whereby  an  appropriation  of 
four  hundred  milUon  dollars  be  made  as  compensa- 
tion to  the  South  for  the  loss  of  their  slaves,  pro- 
vided they  consented  to  lay  down  arms  before  the 
ist  of  April.  With  one  voice  his  Cabinet  cried 
out  against  the  idea.  Facing  them,  the  President 
said  sorrowfully,  — 

"I  see  that  you  are  all  opposed  to  me,  and  I 
will  not  send  it." 

Compensated  emancipation  had  been  a  favorite 
idea  of  Lincoln's  for  many  years,  but  it  never 
became  a  reality.  Everywhere  it  was  rejected ; 
by  the  South,  by  the  Border  states,  by  the  North. 
However,  he  had  the  happiness  to  see  the  launching 
of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  forbidding 
slavery  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 


2o6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

His  second  inauguration  was,  if  anything,  more 
solemn  than  his  first.  It  was  almost  in  the  nature 
of  a  rehgious  ceremony.  Rain  had  filled  the  day 
of  his  inauguration  up  to  the  moment  he  took  the 
oath  of  oflBice,  when  the  sun  burst  through  the 
clouds  and  clothed  him  in  radiance.  Four  years 
before  Lincoln  had  faced  the  Hstening  multitude, 
his  gigantic  task  only  begun.  Now  he  stood  vir- 
tually a  conqueror,  the  end  in  sight,  but  still 
humble  and  gentle.  In  those  four  years  he  had 
grown  old,  wrinkled,  and  careworn;  on  his  sad 
face  was  written  the  tragic  epic  of  a  war  waged 
by  brother  against  brother;  he  looked  Kke  some 
prophet  whose  past  words  had  been  translated 
into  scourge  and  fire,  whose  present  words  were 
to  bring  healing  and  balm  to  the  stricken  nation. 
Slowly,  impressively,  he  began  his  noble  oration 
that  was  to  sway  and  thrill  the  throng  that  heard, 
and  was  to  touch  the  hearts  of  endless  unborn 
generations  of  men:  — 

"  Fellow-Countrymen :  At  this  second  appearing 
to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presidential  office,  there  is 
less  occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there 
was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement,  somewhat  in 
detail,  of  a  course  to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting 
and  proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four 
years,  during  which  public  declarations  have  been 


TENSION  AND   REELECTION  207 

constantly  called  forth  on  every  point  and  phase  of 
the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  attention 
and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  Nation,  little 
that  is  new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of 
our  arms,  upon  which  all  else  chiefly  depends,  is 
as  well  known  to  the  pubHc  as  to  myself ;  and  it  is, 
I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and  encouraging  to 
all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no  prediction 
in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

^'  On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four 
years  ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to 
an  impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded  it,  all  sought 
to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural  address  was  being 
delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  altogether  to 
saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents 
were  in  the  city,  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war 
—  seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  divide  effects, 
by  negotiation.  Both  parties  deprecated  war ;  but 
one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the 
Nation  survive,  and  the  other  would  accept  war 
rather  than  let  it  perish.  And  the  war  came. 
One  eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union, 
but  localized  in  the  southern  part  of  it.  These 
slaves  constituted  a  pecuhar  and  powerful  interest. 
All  knew  that  this  interest  was,  somehow,  the 
cause  of  the  war.     To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and 


208  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

extend  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which  the 
insurgents  would  rend  the  Union,  even,  by  war; 
while  the  Government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

"  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magni- 
tude or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict  it- 
self should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier 
triumph,  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  as- 
tounding. Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray 
to  the  same  God,  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against 
the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men 
should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wring- 
ing their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
faces ;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged. 
The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered  — 
that  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The 
Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  '  Woe  unto  the 
world  because  of  offenses,  for  it  must  needs  be 
that  offenses  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offense  cometh.'  If  we  shall  suppose  that 
American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which, 
in  the  Providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but 
which,  having  continued  through  His  appointed 
time.  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He  gives 
to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war,  as  the 


TENSION  AND   REELECTION  209 

woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall 
we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those 
Divine  attributes  which  the  behevers  in  a  hving 
God  always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope, 
fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of 
war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills 
that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the 
bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unre- 
quited toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 
blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  an- 
other drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three 
thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said, 
*  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether.' 

''  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all ; 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphan;  to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among 
ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 


CEL\FTER  XXm 

ThZ    COIIAIX   F-\LLS 

Sfbing  of  1865  brought  the  bustle  of  preparation 
for  rexnewed  stnggle.  General  Grant  broke  winter 
quartds,  anf  :'-e  President,  anxious  to  be  near  the 
scene  of  the  :  :5r  of  the  conflict,  so  confidently 
e3q)ected,  went  down  the  James  'Rivei  and  estab- 
lished himself  on  board  a  steamer  called  River 
Queen,  where  his  accommodations  were  an}-thing 
but  comfortable.  He  wanted  to  be  ready  in  case 
of  emergenc}^  that  he  alone  felt  empowered  to 
handle.  Afraid  lest  Grant  discuss  political  matters 
in  the  event  of  Lee's  capitulation,  he  had  written. 

"Such  questions  the  President  holds  in  his  own 
hands,  and  win  submit  them  to  no  military'  con- 
ferences or  conventions." 

Mrs.  LiuMJi  a.r-1  Tad  were  sent  for  that  they 
might  enjoy  a  change,  and  Robert,  the  oldest  son, 
obtained  leave  from  Har\-ard  to  have  some  prac- 
tical soldiering  under  Grant. 

The  President  appeared  in  excelknt  spirits, 
his  glc'-:n  gizt  ;:r  the  time  being.    At  Grant's 

210 


THE  CVRJAIS  TALIS  211 

winter  quarters  at  City  Point,  he  sat  with  officos 
round  a  camp  £re  telling  entertaining  stories  and 
listening  to  others. 

One  memorable  day,  when  General  Sherman  had 
arrived  in  camp  from  Georgia.  Grant  and  Admiral 
Porter  joined  him,  and  together  they  went  to  con- 
sult with  Lincoln.  Final  plans  were  to  be  dis- 
cussed. The  gentle-souled  President  shrank  from 
the  idea  of  more  carnage. 

"Must  more  blood  be  shed?  Cannot  this  last 
bloody  battle  be  avoided?'  he  asked,  gravely, 
pain  coming  to  his  eyes. 

The  three  £ghting  men  in  answer  agreed  that  Lee 
would  never  surrender  until  driven  to  it.  That 
wonderful  Confederate  leader  had  gathered  his 
tattered  and  broken  army  about  him  for  a  de^)eiate 
stand,  refusing  to  admit  defeat  even  in  the  face  of 
the  awfiil  facts. 

The  I  St  of  April  brought  the  news  of  Sheridaji's 
success  at  Five  Forks.  That  was  enough  to  assure 
the  fall  of  Richmond.  The  day  following  the  bat- 
tle, Jefferson  Davis  sat  in  his  pew  joining  in  prayers 
for  di\ine  succor,  when  word  came  that  Lee  was  in 
flight  before  the  hosts  of  Grant.  Richmond  was 
without  protecdon,  open  to  the  enemy,  for  the 
first  time  in  four  years  I  Jefferson  Da\-is,  his 
cabinet,  and  the  paraphernalia  of  the  Confederate 


212  ABRAHAJVX  LINCOLN 

government,  were  hurried  to  trains  and  whirled 
farther  South. 

Richmond  citizens,  rich  and  poor,  fled  at  the 
approach  of  the  invaders,  some  of  them  setting  fire 
to  the  military  supplies,  and  soon  the  flames  spread 
to  other  parts  of  the  frenzied  city.  A  horde  of  un- 
derworld criminals  began  looting  and  drinking. 
Disorder  and  destruction  reigned  when  the  Union 
forces  reached  the  scene.  The  conquerors  did 
not  join  the  orgy,  but  set  about  extinguishing  fires, 
quelling  the  drunken  thieves,  and  giving  food  to 
hundreds  of  the  famished  population  that  had 
suffered  all  the  deprivations  of  a  siege. 

In  the  deserted  home  of  Jefferson  Da\'is  the 
commander  of  the  Union  troops,  General  Weitzel, 
took  up  residence,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  once 
more  flung  its  folds  over  the  capital  of  the  Con- 
federacy. 

The  joyous  tidings  were  brought  to  Lincoln  at 
City  Point.  ^' Thank  God  that  I  have  Kved  to  see 
this!"  he  exclaimed.  ^'I  want  to  see  Richmond." 
Hardly  any  preparations  were  made.  Like  the 
humblest  citizen  he  entered  the  fallen  stronghold 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  walked  through  the 
city,  his  only  escort  a  handful  of  sailors.  He 
walked  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  fearless  of  any 
crazed  or  vengeful  enemy  that  might  seek  his  life. 


THE   CURT.\IX  F.\LLS  213 

During  his  walk  he  was  constantly  besieged  by 
negroes  in  ecstasies  of  joy  and  thanksgiving. 
Many  prostrated  themselves  before  him.  Some 
kissed  his  feet.  Others  strove  to  touch  him.  Most 
of  them  danced  around  in  a  frenzy  of  rejoicing, 
singing  h^Tnns,  exclaiming  that  salvation  was  at 
hand.  Their  exclamations  were  those  of  camp- 
meeting  hysteria :  ''  Glory  !  Hallelujah  1 "  ''  God 
bress  Massa  Linkum  !"  ''Open  de  pearly  gates !" 
''Jerusalem,  my  happy  home  ! "  "  I'se  bound  for  de 
Ian'  ob  Canaan  ! "  "No  more  sighin'  an'  weepin' ! " 
These  and  many  other  shouts  made  a  din  that 
deafened.  Lincoln  sought  to  stay  their  exhibi- 
tions of  mad  worship.  He  was  hot  and  uncom- 
fortable, and  he  fanned  himself  with  his  "stove- 
pipe" hat. 

"God  bless  you,  and  let  me  pass  on,"  said 
he  to  the  clamorous  blacks.  He  cautioned  and 
counseled  them  to  be  quiet  and  orderly. 
■  At  last  he  reached  the  home  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  and  quite  exhausted  he  sank  into  the 
Confederate  President's  chair,  at  his  desk.  He 
sat  in  reverie. 

On  April  5,  Lincoln  journeyed  back  to  Grant's 
headquarters  at  City  Point.  Four  days  later  he 
turned  his  face  toward  Washington,  on  April  9, 
the  day  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant  at  Appomattox 


214  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Court  House.  These  two  great  leaders,  Grant 
and  Lee,  were  equally  noble  in  their  demeanor 
at  that  momentous  meeting,  the  Union  general 
recognizing  in  his  antagonist  a  worthy  but  unfor- 
tunate rival,  the  Southern  leader  rendering  homage 
to  a  brave  and  successful  brother-in-arms. 

The  Southern  soldiers  were  weary,  shabby,  and 
hungry;  and  the  first  thought  of  the  conquerors 
was  to  feed  and  clothe  their  former  enemies.  Lin- 
coln heard  of  this  Christian  spirit  with  deep  grati- 
fication. Personally,  he  had  always  regarded  the 
rebelKous  Southerners  as  brothers,  misguided  and 
obstinate,  fighting  for  a  lost  cause  with  souls  that 
should  have  burned  for  a  more  worthy  ideal.  And 
his  desire  had  ever  been  to  treat  them  as  prodigals 
returned  to  the  fold. 

As  he  went  up  the  Potomac  that  April  Sunday 
morning  from  City  Point,  he  read  his  favorite 
Shakespearian  play  —  Macbeth.  One  passage  he 
read  aloud  to  his  companions,  then  read  it  again 
as  if  wishing  to  impress  the  significant  words  on 
his  mind  forever :  — 

'^  Duncan  is  in  his  grave ; 
After  life's  fitful  fever,  he  sleeps  well; 
Treason  has  done  his  worst ;  nor  steel,  nor  poison, 
Malice  domestic,  foreign  envy,  nothing. 
Can  touch  him  further." 


THE   CURTAIN  FALLS  215 

As  the  boat  neared  Washington  Mrs.  Lincoln 
voiced  her  perpetual  fear.  ''That  city  is  filled 
with  our  enemies!"  she  said  apprehensively. 

''Enemies!"  echoed  her  husband.  "We  must 
never  speak  of  that." 

But  there  were  many  who  hated  him,  who  saw 
him  in  the  guise  of  a  monster  —  this  gentle  man 
who  would,  if  he  could,  restrain  the  outburst  of 
rejoicing  in  the  North  over  the  defeat  of  their 
foes  —  this  man  who  applauded  the  way  Grant 
treated  the  beaten  enemy  when  that  general  com- 
manded the  artillery  to  cease  firing  in  honor  of 
Lee's  downfall. 

Two  days  after  the  surrender,  on  April  11,  a 
big  crowd  collected  about  the  White  House  in  the 
evening,  to  show  their  joy  at  the  outcome  of  the 
long,  tragic  war.  Lincoln  appeared  in  a  window 
and  read  to  them  a  short  speech  which  contained 
nothing  of  exultation  or  boastful  reflection.  He 
was  quiet,  earnest,  with  his  uppermost  thought 
betraying  his  anxiety  to  restore  the  South  to  the 
Union  as  soon  and  easily  as  could  be  managed. 

Nothing  of  especial  note  occurred  during  the 
next  few  days.  The  President  was  deep  in  his 
plans  for  reconstruction.  Neither  Johnston,  in 
the  Carolinas,  nor  General  Kirby  Smith,  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  had  yet  laid  down  arms,  but  their 


2i6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

surrender  was  merely  a  matter  of  time.  So  Lin- 
coln went  ahead  with  the  political  machinery 
that  would  reestablish  the  fallen  South  to  its 
original  relationship  to  the  Federal  government. 
April  14  dawned  like  many  another  April  day, 
though  its  close  was  to  mark  one  of  the  greatest 
tragedies  of  history.  Strangely  enough,  it  hap- 
pened to  be  Good  Friday. 

At  the  White  House  a  Cabinet  meeting  was  held. 
More  important  than  any  other  topic  was  that  of 
how  to  dispose  of  the  Confederate  leaders.  Should 
they  be  hanged  as  traitors,  or  what?  Lincoln 
declared  that  no  one  need  expect  him  to  sanction 
such  retaliation. 

*' Frighten  them  out  of  the  country!"  he  ex- 
claimed. ''Scare  them  off!"  The  speaker  here 
threw  up  his  long  arms  as  if  ''shooing"  imaginary 
sheep.  "Enough  lives  have  been  sacrificed.  We 
must  extinguish  our  resentments  if  we  expect 
harmony  and  union."  Again  he  counseled,  "All 
must  begin  to  act  in  the  interest  of  peace." 

The  Cabinet  meeting  ended  with  the  President's 
plea  ringing  in  their  ears.  Lincoln  was  in  un- 
usually good  spirits.  The  mountain  of  cares  that 
had  oppressed  him  for  the  past  four  years  seemed 
to  be  dissolving  like  a  mirage.  But  Secretary 
Stanton  was  worried  over  the  fact  that  the  Presi- 


THE   CURTAIN  FALLS  217 

dent  had  arranged  to  go  to  the  theater  that  night, 
and  had  also  invited  General  Grant  and  Mrs. 
Grant  to  occupy  the  box  with  him  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln.  Stanton  did  not  approve  of  Lincoln  and 
Grant  exposing  themselves  to  unnecessary  danger. 
Washington  was  by  no  means  free  from  desperate 
and  bitter  enemies,  and  frequently  Lincoln's  Hfe 
had  been  threatened  in  anonymous  letters.  Lin- 
coln himself  was  careless  of  all  threats,  and  had 
an  intense  dislike  of  bodyguards  or  special  efforts 
at  protection  in  his  behalf. 

On  this  April  day,  however,  he  had  resolved  to 
forget,  if  possible,  the  burdens  he  had  lately  borne. 
He  went  driving  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  the  afternoon 
and  proved  so  gay  and  care-free  that  she  could 
hardly  believe  her  ears  and  eyes.  Fondly  he  talked 
of  their  past  struggles,  of  the  hard  but  happy  days 
in  Springfield ;  how  he  longed  to  travel  as  well  as 
to  be  back  among  ''home  folks";  but  he  added 
that  they  ought  to  enjoy  life  to  the  full  when  his 
term  of  office  had  expired. 

Instead  of  being  gladdened  by  his  sanguine  mood, 
Mrs.  Lincoln  was  apprehensive. 

''I  have  seen  you  thus  only  once  before,"  she 
said;    "it  was  just  before  our  dear  Willie  died." 

That  afternoon  Lincoln  signed  a  pardon  for  a 
soldier  sentenced  to  death  for  desertion.    Also  on 


2i8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

petition,  he  granted  the  discharge  of  a  Southern 
prisoner.    His  last  official  acts  were  those  of  mercy. 

Word  came  that  the  Grants  could  not  attend  the 
theater  party  that  evening,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
invited  in  their  stead  a  young  couple  recently  be- 
trothed, Major  Rathbone  and  a  Miss  Harris. 
Visitors  detained  the  President  until  the  hour  was 
quite  late  to  go  to  the  theater.  It  was  about  nine 
o'clock  when  the  Presidential  party  appeared  in 
the  box  reserved  for  them.  As  Lincoln  was  rec- 
ognized, the  orchestra  played  ''Hail  to  the  Chief," 
and  the  performance  stopped  temporarily,  while 
the  audience  cheered  enthusiastically. 

Lincoln  and  his  party  settled  themselves  to 
enjoy  the  rollicking  fun  of  ''Our  American  Cousin, " 
a  comedy  from  the  pen  of  Tom  Taylor,  a  famous 
English  dramatist.     Thus,  an  hour  went  by. 

Meanwhile,  one  of  Lincoln's  fanatical  enemies 
was  carrying  out  a  well-laid  plot  to  kill  him.  John 
Wilkes  Booth  was  an  actor,  a  Southern  radical, 
and  came  of  a  celebrated  family  of  players,  of 
whom  Edwin  Booth  was  the  most  illustrious 
member.  John  Wilkes  Booth  was  a  handsome, 
dissipated  young  man  of  twenty-eight.  With 
others,  he  concocted  the  dastardly  scheme  of 
murdering  both  the  President  and  Secretary 
Seward,  the  latter  then  ill  in  bed. 


THE  CURTAIN  FALLS  219 

Up  and  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue  the  destroyer 
paced,  awaiting  his  appointed  hour  to  strike, 
drinking  heavily  to  inflame  further  his  mad  pur- 
pose. At  about  ten  o'clock  he  crept  into  Ford's 
Theater.  He  had  taken  the  precaution,  before- 
hand, to  prepare  the  door  of  the  presidential  box 
so  that  there  might  be  no  hitch  in  his  work.  A 
hole  had  been  bored  in  the  door  for  spying,  and 
a  length  of  board  had  been  provided  to  use  as  a  bar 
to  keep  out  any  assistance. 

Noiselessly  the  assassin  stepped  into  the  little 
anteroom  back  of  the  box,  a  pistol  in  one  hand,  a 
dagger  in  the  other.  The  audience  meanwhile  was 
convulsed  with  laughter  at  the  lines  being  spoken 
on  the  stage.  Between  the  gusts  of  merriment, 
Lincoln  had  been  talking  to  his  wife  of  their 
peaceful  future  together,  and  his  mind  had  re- 
verted to  his  desire  to  travel.  ''There  is  no  place 
I  should  like  so  much  to  see  as  Jerusalem,"  he  said. 

The  dreadful  moment  came. 

The  very  angels  must  have  hidden  their  faces 
as  the  crazed  Booth  aimed  the  pistol  at  the  back 
of  Lincoln's  head  and  fired  a  shot  that  pierced  the 
brain.  For  a  moment  no  one  realized  what  was 
happening.  As  the  shot  sounded,  Lincoln  was 
seen  to  rise  in  his  chair  and  then  fall  back,  his 
head    limp    upon    his    chest.     Major    Rathbone 


2  20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

quickly  recovered  from  his  moment  of  surprise 
and  horror,  and  dashed  at  Booth,  who,  dropping 
his  pistol,  dug  at  the  Major  with  his  dagger.  It 
was  driven  into  Rathbone's  outstretched  arm. 

Then  Mrs.  Lincoln  screamed.  Booth  leaped 
to  the  edge  of  the  box  and  sprang  for  the  stage, 
a  distance  of  about  eight  feet.  Folds  of  the 
American  flag  that  had  been  draped  about  the 
front  of  the  President's  box  caught  his  spur  and  in 
the  leap  he  broke  his  leg.  But  he  was  so  far  gone 
in  insane  passion  that  he  did  not  feel  the  injury- 
enough  to  give  him  pause.  Standing  on  the  stage 
he  flourished  his  knife  and  shouted,  ^'Sic  semper 
tyrannis!'^  which  was  the  motto  of  his  native 
state,  Virginia. 

Commotion  was  now  on  all  sides,  and  was  in- 
creasing till  it  sounded  Hke  the  surge  of  great 
waves.  Owing  to  the  confusion,  the  assassin 
managed  to  escape  through  the  stage  door  where 
his  horse  was  being  held  in  readiness  for  him. 
He  jumped  into  the  saddle  and  clattered  away, 
his  broken  leg-bone  fairly  rending  his  flesh. 

An  eyewitness,  Walt  Whitman,  "  the  good,  gray 
poet,"  has  left  us  this  vivid  account  of  the 
event :  — 

"A 'moment's  hush  —  a  scream  —  the  cry  of 
murder  —  Mrs.  Lincoln  leaning  out  of  the  box, 


THE   CURTAIN  FALLS  221 

with  ashy  cheeks  and  lips,  with  involuntary  cry, 
pointing  to  the  retreating  figure,  '  He  has  killed 
the  President ! '  And  still  a  moment's  strange, 
incredulous  suspense  —  and  then  the  deluge  !  — 
then  that  mixture  of  horror,  noises,  uncertainty  — 
(the  sound,  somewhere  back,  of  a  horse's  hoofs 
clattering  with  speed)  —  the  people  burst  through 
chairs  and  railing,  and  break  them  up  —  that 
noise  adds  to  the  queerness  of  the  scene  —  there 
is  inextricable  confusion  and  terror  —  women 
faint  —  feeble  persons  fall  and  are  trampled  on  — 
many  cries  of  agony  are  heard  —  the  broad  stage 
suddenly  fills  to  suffocation  with  a  dense  and  motley 
crowd  Hke  some  horrible  carnival  —  the  audience 
rush  generally  upon  it  —  at  least  the  strong  men 
do  —  the  actors  and  actresses  are  there  in  their 
play  costumes  and  painted  faces,  with  mortal 
fright  showing  through  the  rouge  —  some  trem- 
bling, some  in  tears  —  the  screams  and  calls,  con- 
fused talk  —  redoubled,  trebled  —  two  or  three 
manage  to  pass  up  water  from  the  stage  to  the 
President's  box  —  others  try  to  clamber  up. 
Amidst  all  this,  a  party  of  soldiers,  two  hundred 
or  more,  hearing  what  is  done,  suddenly  appear; 
they  storm  the  house,  inflamed  with  fury,  Hterally 
charging  the  audience  with  fixed  bayonets,  muskets, 
and  pistols,  shouting,  '  Clear  out !  clear  out ! '  .  .  . 


222  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

And  in  the  midst  of  that  pandemonium  of  senseless 
haste  —  the  infuriated  soldiers,  the  audience,  the 
stage,  its  actors  and  actresses,  its  paints  and 
spangles  and  gaslights  —  the  life  blood  from 
those  veins,  the  best  and  sweetest  of  the  land, 
drips  slowly  down,  and  death's  ooze  already  begins 
its  Httle  bubbles  on  the  lips." 

Doctors  at  once  assumed  charge  of  the  stricken 
hero,  but  they  quickly  saw  that  there  was  no  hope, 
for  the  bullet  had  penetrated  the  brain.  Many 
wilHng  hands  carried  the  dying  martyr  from  the 
theater  to  a  Kttle  house  opposite.  The  curtain 
of  Ford's  Theater  fell,  never  to  rise  again! 

Everything  that  affection  or  medical  skill  could 
do  was  unavailing ;  the  President  never  recovered 
consciousness;  he  hovered  on  the  brink  of  eter- 
nity for  hours,  and  the  next  morning,  at  twenty- 
two  minutes  past  seven,  he  died,  surrounded  by 
weeping  friends.  As  Lincoln  breathed  his  last, 
Stanton  said  in  a  hoarse,  grief -stricken  whisper, 

"Now  he  belongs  to  the  Ages !" 

Not  much  remains  to  tell.  It  was  found  that 
a  similar  attempt  had  been  made  on  Secretary 
Seward's  Hfe  as  he  lay  in  bed.  In  the  struggle  the 
Secretary  and  his  son  were  severely  slashed  with  a 
murderous  knife,  and  for  a  time  the  elder  Seward's 
life  was  despaired  of.    Nearly  two  weeks  later 


THE   CURTAIN  FALLS  223 

Booth  was  cornered  in  a  barn  by  a  posse  and,  re- 
fusing to  give  himself  up,  was  shot  to  death.  His 
fellow-conspirators  were  hanged. 

When  it  was  known  throughout  the  land  that 
Lincoln  was  dead,  there  was  such  a  display  of 
pubUc  sorrow  as  seldom  occurs  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  People  were  dazed  by  the  shock  of  it, 
and  joy  at  the  l&nish  of  hostilities  between  North 
and  South  was  turned  to  mourning.  Europe 
sent  genuine  expressions  of  grief  at  the  loss  of  the 
man  who  had,  as  Emerson  said,  "been  permitted 
to  do  more  for  America  than  any  other  American 
man." 

Little  Tad  was  overcome  and  inconsolable 
at  the  loss  of  his  best  friend  and  playfellow.  After 
tempestuous  grie\dng  he  sought  consolation. 

"Do  you  think,  sir,  that  my  father  has  gone  to 
heaven?"  he  asked  of  a  visitor. 

"I  have  not  a  doubt  of  it,"  replied  the  gentle- 
man. 

"Then  I  am  glad  he  has  gone  there,"  said  Tad 
in  a  tearful  voice,  "for  he  was  never  happy  after 
he  came  here.     This  was  not  a  good  place  for  him  ! " 

Tributes  were  paid  his  memory  by  countless 
pens  and  tongues,  and  they  continue  to  be  paid. 
But  none  of  them  comes  nearer  the  mark  of  true 
appreciation  clothed  in  beautiful  language   than 


2  24  ABRAIL\M  LINCOLN 

Lowell's  "Ode."     The   following  lines   are  often 
quoted  and  should  be  a  household  treasure  :  — 

"How  beautiful  to  see 

Once  more  a  shepherd  of  mankind  indeed, 

Who  loved  his  charge,  but  never  loved  to  lead ; 

One  whose  meek  flock  the  people  joyed  to  be, 
Not  lured  by  any  cheat  of  birth, 
But  by  his  clear-grained  human  worth, 

And  brave  old  wisdom  of  sincerity! 

They  knew  that  outward  grace  is  dust ; 
They  could  not  choose  but  trust 

In  that  sure-footed  mind's  unfahering  skill, 
And  supple-tempered  will 

That  bent  like  perfect  steel  to  spring  again  and  thrust. 
His  was  no  lonely  mountain-peak  of  mind, 
Thrusting  to  thin  air  o'er  our  cloudy  bars, 
A  sea-mark  now,  now  lost  in  vapors  bhnd ; 
Broad  prairie  rather,  genial,  level-lined, 
Fruitful  and  friendly  for  all  human  kind. 

Yet  also  nigh  to  heaven  and  loved  of  loftiest  stars. 


ti , 


Great  captains,  with  their  gims  and  dnmis, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour. 
But  at  last  silence  comes ; 
These  aU  are  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame. 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame. 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American." 


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